Hanami
by kyabetsu
Summary: Do you honestly think that TGRI generated that ooze, but didn't test it? -- Chapters 41 -- IT"S FINISHED>IT"S FINISHED wheeeeeeee. DoneDoneDoneDone.
1. Evil Muffins.

I do not own any of the TNMT characters in this fiction except the four that I made up.  I make no money from this.  Kinko's, Rayovac, and any other name brand ain't mine either. 

 I wanna recognize Tinselcat and Splinter as authors of two fanfics that I borrowed very lightly from.  "Midnight Snacks" uses a term of endearment ("sugar shell") that cracks me up every time; Tinselcat you are clever ^ o ^.  As for Splinter's "Lifelines," I make Michelangelo promise to "tell that story later" but if you wanna know what happened, I'm afraid you'll have to read the original.  That's not my story to tell, (though it's a good one – go read it!)

_Kyabetsu Presents:_

Hanami – Chapter 1

"Hey!  Ow!  Quit it Raph!  How was I supposed to know you'd pick the '_evil muffin'_? Geez, not like there weren't 11 others."  Leonardo snorted his milk and sprayed Donnie's newspaper from across the kitchen table.  

"Ew! Leo, gross! Gimme a paper towel, will ya?"

"Aarrggh! Not in the face! Not my beautiful face!"  

"What the hell's going on?"

Donnie took a sip of his coffee, "Mikey got bored and decided to play "Russian roulette" with the breakfast pastries.  I think that of the dozen he made, 2 of 'em were spiked with wasabe and raw garlic." Leo eyed the muffins piled on the plate in the middle of the table with growing distrust and sighed.  

"You wanna play games?  We'll play games, you little punk-ass!"  Raph had Mikey in a headlock and was dragging him to the table.  Leo gave his best "Is-this-really-necessary?" look, which Raph ignored with practiced ease.  "EAT one!"

"No, no please!"

"Why not, douche-bag?  There's 11 others!  EAT one!"  Mikey heaved a deep sigh and agreed with poor grace.  

"Fine.  Fine."  

As he reached for the top muffin, Raph grabbed his wrist.  "No.  I choose."   Raph grinned in true "payback's-a-bitch" fashion as he went through the pile sniffing at muffins.  He placed one with a tale-tell wasabe leak on the table in front of Mikey.  "Here you go!"  Leo and Don watched in horrified silence as Mikey popped the muffin into his mouth whole.  

"MMMmmm…" he smiled.  Raph was about to go for his throat when Mike's smile drained and he gagged.  Leo leaned away.  If Mikey had been a volcano, the natives would have been searching for some handy virgins.  Raph was too busy gloating to read the signs.  With an eye-watering "Blup," Mt. Mikey erupted.  Raph blinked.  Then he looked at his feet. "Sorry bout that, dude."  Don heard Raph growling.  

Just in time to avert bloodshed, Splinter entered the room.  "Good Morning my pupils.  Michelangelo, are you alright?"

 "Yeah, I just ate something that didn't agree with me."

Splinter took in the scene, "Raphael, clean yourself off and get a cool washcloth and some water for Michelangelo."  The phone rang and Donnie gratefully escaped from the kitchen. 

 "Well, at least we know the rest of them are safe," and with that Leo reached into the pile and popped a muffin into his mouth.

"Hello?"

"Hey Donnie, It's April.  Look.  I just got into work and there was a fax –"

_"Get your butt back here!"  _

"What was that?"

"Oh, Mikey made muffins for breakfast and 2 of them _are different_."

"So?"

"Some of them were spiked with wasabe and raw garlic" 

"Heh, oh and Leo just found one of the 2, huh?"

"Naw, if he'd found one of the 2, he'd have been fine… apparently the REST of them have been doctored."

April was laughing too hard to steer the conversation back to the fax.

"_You think you're funny, don't you?"_

_"Leo, Raph, it's ok! Please?"_

_"Leonardo, Raphael, Leave Michelangelo alone!  He is sick."_

_"Not as sick as he's gonna be…"_

"Uh, anyways what was that about a fax?"

"Ha haa…. oh yeah.  Apparently Dr. Perry—"

"Dr. Perry!  I haven't heard from him since we dealt with all that TGRI stuff. Wow, did he give you contact info?" 

"No, I'm afraid not.  The cover letter is from a Kinko's somewhere.  But he has some important stuff he's sending to you guys via me.  From the sound of it, it's lab stuff, but he really didn't say.  I get the impression that maybe this stuff shouldn't be traced back to him."  

"Cool.  Crazy mad doctor stuff."  

"He said he shipped it yesterday, and it'll arrive 3 days from now, so that's Friday evening at the farm house.  I'm gonna need to sign for it."  

"But April wasn't this your mini-vacation weekend? "

"Yeah, but I don't have to be at the spa before Saturday morning.  Heading out Friday was just a nice bonus.  I can pick you guys up Friday morning, drop you at the farm, sign for the packages and let you guys fend for yourselves for the weekend."  

"I'm sure Master Splinter would love to spend the weekend out there."

"Great!  I'll pick you guys up Friday at 8am." 

"Coolness."

"See you then."

"Bye"

Donatello and Splinter sat in the kitchen quietly eating the only 2 non-tainted muffins while Donatello explained April's phone call.  "Yes, I believe a weekend in the country will be beneficial to your brothers."  

            Evenly spaced around the dojo, three turtles holding buckets full of water at arms' length and chest height glared at each other and burped from time to time.


	2. Underground

Hanami – Chapter 2

The mini-van bumped along the two-lane highway, Splinter riding shotgun behind a pair of sunshades that blocked the view in, but not the view out.  In an overcast sky, the sun was still too weak to burn off the fog that crept across the ground. Trees grew from the gray mist stretched along winding highway.  The winter had been a long one, all five of them underground, trying to give each other space.  Of course, the winter was not yet completely finished; the clammy fog was the result of last night's cold snap.  However it seemed to the Master that everything was, in the way of the young, impatient to break through the frozen ground.  Only a few weeks left in February.  Splinter smiled as he allowed himself a springtime metaphor, "Like bulbs in the earth, we look forward to the time we are allowed some sunlight."  

"Why do Donnie and Leo get the back seat?  They get all that space, and I have to share with Rage-man here?  This seat's smaller and Raphael is sprawling onto my side!  Raphael just grinned and lounged aggressively.  

"Take this time for mediation my sons.  Since none of you could agree on a radio station, there will be silence." Splinter paused. "Raphael, sit up."  Raph sullenly pulled out of Mikey's space.  Mike started massaging the arm that had been pinned between the bench seat and Raph's shell. 

 "It's fallen asleep," he mumbled.  "So Donnie, what's the good doctor sending you?  And why doesn't "NERD EXPRESS" deliver to city addresses?"

            "For the 5 billionth time, Mike, I don't know.  I think April's right, though about him not wanting to send us something that could be easily traced, I mean, he left so many things unsaid.  I don't think he could have made that letter any more vague if he wanted to."

"Oh, and incidentally Mike," April chimed in, glancing into the rearview mirror, "I thought there were parcels for ALL of you."

"What the hell am I gonna do with dweeb gear?" Raph grumbled beneath his breath.

"Sell it to Donnie."

"Good idea, Mike."

"Damn, guys.  I think Dr. P sent you the entire lab." April gestured at the 4 identical wooden crates sitting on the front lawn.  "Oh, Splinter, this is for you."  She passed over a large manila envelope.  "Probably assembly instructions or something.  Look, I've got to be going if I'm gonna finish packing tonight."  April kissed Splinter on the cheek and hugged the guys.  "You'll have to tell me what's in all that when I get back.  Have fun, and try not to destroy anything valuable."  She hopped into the van and drove off down the gravel driveway.

"Alright! Let's open these puppies up!"

"Mike!  Don't open those out here!  If it's machinery, it'll be sensitive to the damp, and anyways Master Splinter's envelope says "OPEN FIRST."

"But Donnie…" Mike had one of Raph's sais in his hand with its point wedged under the lip of the crate closest to him.  Just then Raph checked his belt, "Hey! Give that back!  You little turd-burglar, you can't use it like that, it's a weapon, not a crow bar!"

Splinter sighed, "My sons, let us go inside and read what the Doctor has to say before proceeding."  Mike looked longingly at the 4 wooden crates each 3ft long by 2ft wide by 2ft tall.  "I wanna know what's in the boxes," he pouted, but Splinter held open the door and said, "They will keep Michelangelo."

"Turd-burglar?"

"What's it to you, Leo?"

"That's just the first time I've heard that one, s'all."

The falling dark and gathering fog obscured the crates on the lawn.


	3. Storm Warnings

Hanami – Chapter 3

Leo brought an old beaten up armchair from the basement.  It sagged so much it was less of a chair and more of a coincidental arrangement of "chair-ness."   He set it up near the fireplace in the living room, so that his sensei could avoid the major drafts in the room.  Piling the old chair frame with even older throw pillows and some spare couch cushions, he wrapped the newly reborn armchair in a rag rug to keep its components in place.  It was not the best looking thing, but, with the added pillows, Splinter assured Leonardo it was quite comfortable.  

Mikey started up a pot of tea and the beginnings of dinner, puttering around in the kitchen while he sang himself a Doris Day tune.  Donnie fished out the old weather radio, and scouted through the fridge for some fresh DD batteries.  "…Will I be pretty? / Will I be rich? / Here's what she said to me…"  

"Mikey where did you put the batteries?  I know they're in here."

With out missing a beat he warbled, "They're in the Lunchmeat bin/ Behind all that other stuff/ The future's not ours to see/ Que sera sera…" Shaking his head, Donnie liberated the Rayovacs from the fridge and turned on the weather channel on his portable radio.  After some volume issues, he gave up and moved the radio into the living room where Mikey's volume ceased to be an issue.  

"Falling temperatures, and the incoming cold front…" Don nudged Raph.  "Hey you wanna help pull the boxes in here?  The temp's falling and the weathergirl seems to think there may be an ice storm on the way."

" If that's the case we'll want as much dry wood as we can get for a good fire tonight," said Leo.  " I'm glad we brought the water cooler. So if we loose all electricity we'll still have water."  

Raph leaned over into his brother's face.   "Leo, why are you talking, huh?! That made NO sense.  How are electricity and water linked?  We've got a well, fer cryin'out loud!"  

"Well, Raph, since the pump on the well is ELECTRIC I thought it stood to reason that no electricity meant no water!"  

 Raph sat back.  "Oh, I can fill the cooler up then." Leo and Donnie exchanged a glance that said, "He backed off?  I haven't seen him bow down to logic or hell even just plain common sense in forever.  I'm not gonna argue if he's gonna be reasonable, but damn that was unexpected.  I wonder if he's sick.  It might have been those muffins.  Oh well."  It was a very expressive glance.   

"Donnie, find the flashlights, matches, and emergency candles.  Mikey, take stock of the canned goods situation.  I'll go get the boxes."

"Leo, wait for me!"  

"Hey one of those boxes is mine!" 

"Bro that is unfair, I wanna get a chance to shake a box too.  Then I bet could guess what's in it!"

Leo changed the plan, "FINE!  We each get a box.  Bring it in here.  Then Raph and I search for dry wood.   Mikey, you start filling the cooler and spare pitchers up with water, and make sure we've got enough canned food/pasta to last out the storm.  Even if it's only over night, April won't be here to pick us up until sometime Monday night.  Don find the flashlights, matches, candles and drag the mattresses down here with the spare blankets.   It'll be warmer to sleep down here by the fire."

As Splinter smiled at his sons from his chair and opened the envelope the wind began to pick up outside.


	4. Hakamairi - (Ritual Grave Visitation)

Hanami --- Chapter 4

Splinter pulled out a single sheet of paper and proceeded to read as his pupils prepared for the incoming sleet storm.

Dearest Splinter,

I find that I must ask that you and your incredible family to help me out of a life-threatening situation.  Not directly mine; I'm quite safe.  As you are reading this I will be on my way to a country in the southern hemisphere where US extradition laws do not apply.  You see, TGRI has declared bankruptcy and all projects are to have been terminated.  This includes my life's work, the fruition of nearly 2 decades of research. 

In my desperation, I have committed a two-fold crime.  The first: I falsified top-secret records: death certificates, so as to smuggle materials from my Laboratory at TGRI into the outside world: namely the specimens from my longest running experiment.  The second: it took me close to 18 years to choose to do so.  My hesitation has caused extreme suffering on the part of my test subjects, so much so that I am embarrassed beyond measure to drop this into your lap.  

Though my cowardice has cost them years, the only thing I can do at this point is to give them their freedom and a push in the right direction.  While it may seem that it comes at a high cost, I assure you that it's preferable to their death.  I can only send them to where I know a loving family awaits.   

Tell Donatello I'm sorry.

J. Perry

"Leonardo! Raphael! Michelangelo! Donatello!"  The fear in Splinter's shout gathered the turtles in record time.  With their weapons drawn, they surrounded their sensei, scanning for something to attack.  "My sons, we must open these crates.  Now."

Michelangelo already had one of Raphael's sais in hand. "Alright! It's Christmas!  …Jingle bells/ Batman smells/ I hope I got a Porsche…"

Kneeling to open his crate, Raphael looked over to his sensei, "What's the rush?  I thought we were getting ready for that storm?"

Splinter sighed deeply and raised his voice over the crates wooden protests.  "Carefully my sons, these boxes contain living creatures."  

Donatello turned, eyes wide open, crate forgotten with only one corner of the lid raised. "What?! But April said Dr. Perry shipped these on MONDAY.  There aren't even any air holes! How can he expect the animals to show up healthy and, hell, even alive after 5 days?  Even with heavy sedation, you'd need a pretty sophisticated IV system to prevent dehydration over that much time and –"

"Dudes, this is most un-cool."  Mikey already had the lid off his crate.  

The brothers and their sensei gathered around the open box.  The stench was appalling.  The packing straw at the bottom of the crate was sodden with waste.  The turtle crouched head between its knees inside the crate.  It looked young, its shell and shoulders were narrow, fragile looking, and most alarming of all, _still_.  It was splashed with its own filth, probably from when the deliverymen had forgotten what side was up.   Mikey felt his mouth go dry; he had shaken the crate less then a half hour ago hoping to guess its contents.  

Who ever had put the child into the box hadn't given them quite enough room to lay down or turn over, but since the box was several inches wider then its occupant on all sides, it left enough room for the body to be jostled side to side as it knelt on the bottom.  The widest parts of the shell were abraded and scratched as were the top of its head and the soles of its feet.  Some of the older cuts had an unpleasant color from where they had begun to fester.

            Splinter took a deep breath and silently cursed humans in general.  He then began issuing commands.  "Carry the boxes up to the bathroom gently.  We will wash them one at a time and see which require medical care and which require burial."

            His sons whispered, "Hai."

The boxes were lined up along a wall, the lids off, and their contents revealed.  Four battered turtles doubled up in what looked like cheap caskets.  Their vertebrae stood out from the backs of their necks, and their coloring had a grayish cast.  Splinter paced across the cold tile floor and reached into the boxes, probing the clammy skin around the four turtles' necks.

            "They all live."  His sons let out the collective breath they had been holding. "However, my children, they are not conscious now, and if we do not act quickly, they may pass straight from their unconsciousness into death.  We will proceed with the bathing.  Leonardo, Donatello, we will need first aid supplies.  Boil some sharp knives and needles, some of these wounds will need to be lanced."

            Leonardo and Donatello fled from the room.  In tight-lipped silence they gathered the supplies.  "Will you listen to that hale. I didn't even notice when it started.  Did you and Raph get enough firewood?  I mean, tomorrow everything's gonna be too soggy to burn."  Donatello knew he was babbling, but anything was better than his brother's silence.  Silence would mean he'd have to think – he wasn't ready to do that yet. Leonardo let his brother ramble.


	5. Eyes Wide

Hanami – Chapter 5

Michelangelo had never seen anything so heartbreaking in his entire life.  He lifted the body from the box.  The limbs did not or could not relax.  He sat the child in the bathtub and tried to make it sit up.  The turtle's fetal pose resisted his efforts, but Raphael helped him to prop one of the little one's elbows on the side of the tub, while Splinter held it in place.  Splinter assumed a far-off look as he mentally probed their patient.  Mike took a washcloth and ran water over the top of its head and down its neck toward its shell, following some light green stripe markings that flowed down and disappeared under its shell near the shoulder blades.  He discovered an impressive wound right along the seam of its shell just below the shoulder joint.  It was only about 3" long but from the way the skin had swollen around it all the way down the turtle's side, it must be either very deep or had been infected well before the humans crammed the little one into the box. 

At first Mike had been scared, horrified at the thought of touching the living-dead body in the box.  Nightmares.  He was gonna have nightmares about this.  Hell, he was wide-awake right now and it was all too easy to imagine one of his brother's faces on that horribly emaciated body.  "Michelangelo?"

"Mike?"  Raphael and Splinter were staring at him.  He cleared his throat.

"I'm fine." 

He shook it off, determined not to be weak.  His fears ebbed with each rinse of the washcloth, but now fury had sprung up in fear's place.  No one should be allowed to do this to anyone, let alone a kid!  He scrubbed at the shell gently, checking for cracks in the carapace.  The body rocked slightly with his efforts.  He grabbed a shoulder to support it, and was startled when Splinter murmured, "Michelangelo, look!"  The child's sunken eyes were open, the skin around them tight with pain and fear.  

Michelangelo panicked, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry -- god, so sorry!  You're safe now!  Please it's ok, really! You're among friends! No humans!" The lack of response was eerie and only served to increase the verbal flow from Michelangelo's beak.  "Please, I'm Mike and that's Raph and that's Master Splinter, and we'd never hurt you…" Splinter laid a hand on Michelangelo's shoulder.  

"Hush my son."  The muscles weren't relaxing.  It was then that Michelangelo realized that the poor kid couldn't relax, five days holding one position had cramped the knotted joints into place.  Splinter calmly took the washcloth from Michelangelo's hands, rinsed it clean and gently finished bathing their patient. "Michelangelo, get a large towel, Raphael and I will pass the child to you."

"Take him downstairs and give him small amounts of water.  Have towels handy, his stomach will rebel if given too much too soon. Lay him on a mattress.  Start the fire and speak quietly.  Soothe him.  See if you can massage some flexibility back into his limbs."  

            "Right sensei."  With new purpose and infinite care, Michelangelo carried his precious bundle downstairs.

            The lights flickered, but came back.  Splinter, seated on a small stool by the tub, listened to the creaking and snapping of the trees as the wind raged over them.  There would be broken limbs in the morning.


	6. Sisters

Hanami -- Chapter 6

Donatello came back upstairs.  "Sensei?  I left the first aid stuff downstairs with Mike."  He cleared his throat, "Shall we start on the next one?"  

Splinter sighed, he felt like he had aged 20 years in a matter of minutes.  "Yes, my son."  He gestured for Raphael to help his brother.

Before Raphael could round the tub, Donatello lifted the second child out of his box.  Unlike Mike's patient, the body was not rigid and Raphael watched helplessly as the legs unfolded like a stepladder.  It's heels hit the floor with a 'thud' that made Donatello wince.   Arms limp at its sides, the body began to slide to the floor.  "Dammit, Raph, help me!"  Raphael rushed over and took up the body behind its knees.  Standing up, the kid would have been a few inches taller than Donatello, though considerably skinnier.  Since his legs were so much longer, his knees were in terrible shape from the coarse wood of the crate.  Unbending the joints had forced the partially formed scabs to crack.  By the time the brothers had placed the patient in the tub, Raphael's hands were bloody.

"Um, you guys got it from here?  I'm gonna take a break.  Gotta wash off.  Get some air, ok?"  Splinter nodded absently.  

Donatello prepared a rag and thought to himself, "Poor thing. I remember when I hit my growth… awkward as hell, never figured I'd fit back into my shell again.  Shit, and I thought I had it bad."  As his attentions brought him around to the plastron, he froze.  It was subtle, after all, the rest of the body was so thin, but he thought he … "Sensei, do you think, this kid's a gir—"

"Nng…"  She raised her head maybe an inch before it fell forward again.  Her eyes fluttered open.  The edges of her beak were raw and cracked, her tongue thick from dehydration, but she struggled to speak, "Sisters…" There she paused, and on the next breath, "Three…"  "Where?.."

"All of your sisters are here with us.  Do not trouble yourself.  You are all safe."  Splinter's words calmed her and she shut her eyes.

Afraid of her silence, Donatello blurted out, "What's your name?"

Her eyes remained closed, but she mumbled, "Unit … C-3 … sec-tion …29."  She relaxed and drifted off to sleep.  

The two worked in silence.  Donatello concentrated solely on the task of cleaning her and preparing her for first aid.  With a better grip, he wrapped her in a towel and held her close.  He never noticed that his thoughts skirted well around the humans who caused the train-wreck he carried downstairs in his arms.

            As Donatello decended the stairs with his arms full of turtle, he looked for Raphael, but couldn't spot him.  "Well, if you can't find Raph, then Leo, it's your turn."

Leo swallowed.  "Right."

            Leonardo would never have admitted it, but his search for Raphael went on longer than strictly necessary.  He found his brother outside on the back porch dry heaving.  "Geez, Raph, why are you outside?  It's freezing out here," he stood closer to the wall of the house, "And it's wet, too.  Why don't we go in, huh?" 

Raphael shook his head, "Not yet.  God, Leo, is it my turn?  I found that letter.  The one Perry sent Splinter.  I hate those fucking humans."  He brought his fist down on the porch railing.  Leo watched it crack.  "Those stunted things upstairs are OUR AGE!"  He gestured wildly, rage pouring from his mouth.  "They're not _KIDS_.  Sure they LOOK like children, but he knew about 'em for 18 years –18 FUCKIN' YEARS — and didn't DO a _GOD-DAMN_ thing!  _THAT FUCKIN SACK OF SHIT_ met us.  CAME INTO OUR HOME, Leo!  LIED to us!  And the whole FUCKING time that FUCKING CUNT must've been thinking, 'Wow!  These are just like the ones I'm starving at home!'" Raphael paused for air. He was shaking, trying to get a grip.  "What if he had decided to add to his mutant collection, huh, Leo?  That could've been US in those boxes!  That could've been MASTER SPLINTER!"  Raphael turned away from his brother and looked out into the storm.  "I'll kill 'im Leo.  PERRY is a DEAD MAN."  

Raph suddenly bent double and wretched onto the dead grass near the porch.  As he came up he wiped the bile from the corner of his mouth, he said, "Yah know the sick thing, Leo?  I took one look at those miserable things in those boxes, and said to myself, 'If that was me in there, I know what kind of help I'd want.'"

Raph's words took Leo's breath.  He stood staring stupidly at his brother.   He shook his head, what was he supposed to say to that?  He turned to go back into the house, and mumbled at the floor, "That sort of thing won't help, but there's a child- a turtle- any way, who needs you upstairs."  

Raph looked at Leo funny, "You helped yours yet?"  Leo shook his head and the two went upstairs together.  


	7. Brutish and Short

Hanami – Chapter 7

Leonardo paused at his end of the crate.  Looking across to Raphael, he braced himself to lift.  "Ok Raph, I've got a good grip.  You take the feet, we'll walk him over to the tub together."

"Her."  Leonardo stared blankly at Splinter.  "They are sisters, my son."  

"Oh.  Well, then we walk her to the tub.  Ready?  Lift!"  Splinter watched in horror as his sons raised the body.  A series of large wet splashes parted company from the base of the shell. 

Raph turned his head in disgust.  "Oh, man figures you'd pick the shitter, Leo."

Leo's eyes were huge.  He hadn't moved.  "That ain't shit, Raph, it's bloody."

Splinter gestured for his sons to come to the tub and put the girl down.  Once the body was resting in the porcelin, Splinter walked over to the crate.  Feeling his sons' presence beside him, Splinter turned from the box and steered them away from it.  

Raph whispered, "I thought you said that they were all alive.  How does anybody live after losing that many internal organs?"  He knelt by the motionless form in the tub, trying to see if she was still breathing.

Splinter looked sadly at his sons, wanting desperately to protect them from any further revelations.  Shaking his head slowly, he heard himself say, "She lives because those were not organs, rather they were her children."

Leonardo could not draw breath.  The world crystallized around him, but his heart kept beating. The sleet hammered on the roof.  The weather radio was still on downstairs.  The eaves settled under the wind's buffeting.   

It wasn't right.  It should be quiet.  THIS MATTERED!  All these noises just seemed to say, "The world outside this room doesn't know.  Or care.  The rest of us will just keep going, ok?" Just like it wasn't important at all.

Leonardo's screams brought his brothers running.  He'd punched a hole in the wall clear through into the hallway.  Walking wide around their brother's embedded fist, they entered the bathroom.  Raphael was sitting on the floor near the tub not moving.  The girl's head lolled along the tub rim while their sensei washed her down, crying silent tears.  Red blood clots flowed on pink water over the edge of the drain.


	8. Produce

hanami – 8

            Her mind refused to surface.  Splinter said her spirit was traveling inward, searching inside herself.  Leo's insides clenched; was she looking for her children?   

She had been pregnant.  They put a pregnant girl -- no woman -- into a box without food or water for FIVE DAYS?  Splinter said that he couldn't tell how many children there had been, but Leo had glimpsed enough of the miscarriage to guess there had been least 2.

  For the first time in his life Leonardo felt true helpless rage.  "A high cost… preferable to their death."   Perry's letter churned in Leo's mind.  Of all the arrogant, fucking humans… Had he asked _her_ that?  Had Perry even _known _about the pregnancy?

He was gonna drive himself crazy with questions like that.  He needed to go hit something, to train until he couldn't think anymore.  But he couldn't just leave her draped in the tub.  She needed medical care.  So he gritted his teeth as his thoughts rose and burst like bubbles through the mire of his thickening rage.  

She was pregnant.  Had there been other turtles?  Were they dead?  Or would one of these poor, cramped, stunted S.O.B.s downstairs turn out to be her mate?  No.  Splinter said they were all sisters… Were any of the others pregnant?  She was going to be hysterical when she woke up.  How do you explain some thing like that to someone?  He laughed without humor at himself, "She's unconscious.  There's just one hysterical turtle.  And that would be me."

            Mikey intruded on his thoughts, calling up the stairs.  "Yo!  Leo, com'mon this little dude's joints are finally loosening up!   Give me a hand."  He gestured at the figure curled around itself, fetal and laying on its side on a mattress in front of the fire.  "You take arms and shoulders.  I'll deal with feet and hips.  Poor guy might be able to sleep flat on his stomach tonight if we keep at him."  Leo nodded; he'd be right down.  Heading back into the bathroom, he carefully wrapped the young mother in a towel.  As he carried her gently down the stairs, he heard Mikey carrying on a one-sided conversation.

            "Yeah so that's how we happened… I guess we were a lot luckier then we knew.  Splinter's a great father, and sure, Leo's bossy, but he means well.  There's nothing Donnie can't fix.  And there's nothing Raphael can't break.  Heh, except this one time, I dared him to break a stack of cinder blocks with his forehead.  Ha Ha!  I'll tell you all about that when you're feeling a bit better.  Promise.   So, you know my name, I'm gonna give you a nickname, so I can talk to you without just calling you 'You.'  Is that ok?  Um let's see…"

Leonardo lay the mother out on a clean mattress, and propped her head up, she was still breathing, but she had not stirred.  As he covered her with a blanket and tucked it around her, he heard his brother christening the poor quiet soul on the other mattress.  

"Oh! Ok! I got one! I'm gonna call you 'Cabbage!'"

Leo glanced up sharply.  "What?! Mikey of all the stupid things to call a turtle!  Don't you think she's been through enough without your dumbass calling her 'Cabbage?'"

"Shut up Leo, he likes it!"

"SHE, Mike, she likes it.  And how would you know anyways?"

Mike smiled, "We've got a system!  Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no.'" He looked into the warm brown eyes watching him from the mattress.  "So, first, are you a girl?"  Blink.  "Heh, coolness.  So secondly, dudette, may I call you 'Cabbage?'"  Blink.  "See?! Told'ja so!  And besides, it makes sense, she's small and green and all curled up, I picked her out of the box and rinsed her off and there she is, slowly uncurling.  I think it's a cute name, don't you, Cabbage? The eyes crinkled in what might have been happiness.  Blink.

Donatello looked up from beside the far mattress, "Don't argue, Leo."  He was dressing the wounds on the lanky turtle's knees.  "He's decided to call this one "Frogger."

"I bet she's an incredible jumper" Mikey smiled, Don rolled his eyes, and applied some antiseptic to a cotton ball.

            "So is she conscious?"

            "She was, but she's sleeping very deeply right now.  Pass me that gauze will you?"

            "Did she speak with you?"

            "Some.  She just asked about her sisters.  Said her name was Unit C-3 Section 29.  Whatever that means."

            "So how did you know—"

            "Oh the gender thing, yeah.  You can see it in the shape of her plastron, since she's not all balled up."

"Like Cabbage," Mikey chirped.

Leo turned to Mike, "Did you know Miss C-3 was a girl BEFORE you went and called her 'Frogger?'" 

"No," he shrugged, "But that doesn't matter.   It's only a nickname."

Donatello patted his brother's arm, "Let's put some antiseptic on you gal's elbows and bandage her up."  

"Seriously Leo, She'll tell us her real name when she wakes up."  Mikey went back to work massaging Cabbage, but he called over his shoulder, "So, what're you gonna call yours?"  

"She's not 'mine.'"  An exasperated Leo got tangled in the medical tape and had to throw away a golf-ball-sized wad.  "Off Mike's head, off the wall, no rim."  Donatello applauded when he sunk the shot.  Leo looked back down at the sleeping figure.  His eyes settled on her face, watching her breathe in a peaceful rhythm.  She had striped markings instead of the spots that he and his brothers bore.  The pale yellow ran from under her eyes, down her cheeks to her jawbone where they broadened and slid down her neck toward her back.   

"I think Shima [shee-mah] sounds nice."  He frowned at Mikey's confused face.  "You've forgotten all the Japanese Splinter ever taught us!"

 "Not all. Just most."

"It means 'Stripe.'"

Michelangelo snorted, "That's brilliant Leo.  Can we call you 'Spot?'"


	9. Fix ANYTHING

Hanami – Chapter 9

Cabbage lay on her side, still slightly curled, but definitely much more relaxed.  "So, what'd you think Donnie?  How do we help her?"  Mike pointed to the large abscess along her side.  "It's a lot warmer then the rest of her."  He looked down into her sleepy face, "Don't you fret!  Donnie can fix anything!"

"No pressure then, huh?"  Donatello enjoyed being his family's miracle worker, but some times the things they wanted – well, he was scared to disappoint them; especially with something like this.  "We'll have to cut it open, drain it, sterilize it, and insert a cleaning tube, before we can stitch it back up."  He glanced up at his brothers.  Michelangelo suddenly looked very young.  

Leonardo, however, asked, "How do I help?" 

Michelangelo moved Cabbage to the counter top by the kitchen sink and steadied her as she sat upright.  Donatello and Leonardo had prepared the tools, and Mikey was doing his best to explain things to her.  "Cabbage, this is for the best.  If we don't fix it now, Donnie says the fever will kill you.  I'm sorry.  I know this isn't gonna be much fun, but I'll make it up to you!  We can go sledding.  I'll teach you how to make the best kinds of Pizza.  I'll let you read all my comics, especially the ones about mutants.  And there's a tire swing outside.  And I'll teach you how to skateboard.  And –"

He cut off as she slowly raised a finger to his beak.  "Shh.  S'ok.  M'ready."  

"Oh.  Ok.  So I should tell you a story while Don's tending you, so you don't have to think about…" Blink. Mike was back on familiar ground.  Tell a story.  Make her laugh.  He did it all the time for April when she'd had a bad day.  Story.  Story.  Any story.  "Yeah!  So, we don't usually live here.  My family and I live in this rockin'ly retro abandoned subway station beneath the city.  The only way to reach it is through the sewers, which is great 'cause that keeps the humans out…"

Donatello was amazed.  He had dreaded performing even a mild surgery without any real anesthetic.  Sure, ice numbed the skin, but it was the stuff underneath that was the problem.  Cabbage squirmed from time to time, but on the whole, she sat still.  The only response he got to his attentions were sharp intakes of breath when he touched a nerve.   As he sewed the skin back together, he listened to Mike ramble, occasionally picking up snippets of, "… well then I dropped the mystic egg timer! … n't help it, my horse didn't have a head!"   He looked at Leo.  If his brother was anywhere near as tired as he looked, they'd be carrying him to bed soon.

"Okay Cabbage.  That's it.  You can have some more water and head to bed, ok?"

He was rewarded with a slight smile and a Blink.  "…T'anx."  


	10. Feral Turtle

Hanami – Chapter 10

Mike came back into the kitchen 5 minutes later.  Don and Leo were washing the makeshift surgical instruments.  "Cabbage is down for the count.  It'll take an act of God to wake her."  

A shout from upstairs stopped them cold.  They heard Raphael cry "Yowch! She bit me! She FUCKING bit me!" All three brothers stepped into the living room with just enough time to watch in fascination as a watery form scurried backward out of the bathroom and toward the stairs.  Raphael came out on the landing with a finger in his mouth and a towel in his other hand.  As he advanced on the girl, she almost backed right off the stairs.  

"No! Raphael, don't go any closer!  She'll fall!"  The outburst from downstairs only served to upset her balance further, and with an ungainly squawk, she rolled down the staircase and smashed the wall at the bottom of the stairs.  She was covered in plaster with her feet up over her head.  Her shell had lodged itself into the wall lathing, and She blinked owlishly up through the dust.    Leo and Mikey advanced slowly, so as not to frighten her further.  They had hoped to bring her to the fire, give her some water, and calm her down.  Unfortunately they underestimated 2 important things.  Firstly, they looked scary from her upside down vantage: two heavily muscled strangers moving like hunters in perfect unison.  Secondly, they neglected to consider the true power of adrenaline.

Their target ripped her shell from the wall, and rolled with its momentum end over end toward the still forms of the three other turtles.  Leonardo knew that, tired as he was, she would be child's play to pin down.  Unfortunately that would only have upset her further.  The idea was to calm her not to force her into cardiac arrest.  

Raphael and Splinter joined Leonardo and Michelangelo at the foot of the stairs.  They watched her grab a glass of water from off the floor and chug it straight down.  She choked, coughed, and wretched, but held onto most of the fluid.  She staggered over to Shima, lay down next to her, buried her face into her sister's neck, and started sobbing.  

The storm chose this moment to severe the farm from the rest of the world.  

            Donatello slipped into the darkened kitchen and brought out another glass of water, which the prone turtle ignored.  Shoulders still shaking, she looked to be all cried out.  Splinter and his sons drew a deep breath of relief.  Splinter prepared himself to make the introductions and to see if this poor turtle had a name or could even speak.  However before Splinter could utter one syllable, she sent up a horrible keening.  She seemed to be sustaining two separate pitches at the same time.  If the pitches had been in harmony, it could have been called 'song.'  However, the strident dischord transformed it into a wailing lament.  

In the firelight, Raphael could feel goosebumps under his shell.  The little one would pause only long enough to draw breath, and then resume her two-toned howl.  The cry crawled under Raphael's skin through the soles of his feet and raced up every nerve in his body before it hit his brain like a sledgehammer.  Her despair and fear was so bright and clear in Raphael's mind that for a moment, he would have sworn that sound lit the room instead of light.

"Two?… TwoSee?… Sister, come here."  Frogger was sitting upright, bleary-eyed and squinty.  She was promptly knocked back to her mattress as her sister cannoned into her.  "Shh… Hush…Shhss…Zzzz…"  TwoSee snuggled up to her sister's side, crying quietly.

            After a time, she chokingly passed into sleep.  Raphael tried to cover the little one with a blanket, but if he got too near, she would stir and growl.  Rubbing the bite marks on his hand, he left the quilt within reach and went to help Splinter clean up the bathroom.

Later that night, Raphael woke to the sound of quiet crying.  He was still awake when dawn found him.


	11. Drink Water

Hanami – Chapter 11

            Splinter woke before dawn and chuckled quietly to himself.   Eight turtles sprawled around the living room.  TwoSee and Frogger were curled up together on the farthest mattress.  Their sister "Cabbage" had apparently managed to uncurl, she was tangled in her blanket and hanging off the edge of her mattress.  Michelsngelo had pulled the fourth mattress close to Cabbage's, and then promptly rolled off of it, taking his covers with him.  Donatello had commandeered the sofa, with Raphael laid out on the floor in front of it.  Leonardo stretched out on the floor near to Shima's mattress.  Splinter hefted himself from the sagging "armchair" Leonardo had built for him last night.  Over the course of the night it stubbornly settled back into a primitive lounger, which was fine with Splinter, but made getting out of it quietly a tricky affair.  

            Splinter silently stepped over Leonardo, and reached to check Shima's chi. Laying his fingers on her skin, he pushed gently at her mind.  Her spirit was much stronger, much closer to the surface than last night.  He nodded happily.  She would live.  She was already on her way back.  It would take time, but then, she had a long way to go.

            Splinter slipped quietly upstairs to find an unoccupied room for his morning meditations.

            Raphael felt his sensei leave the room.  He turned his head.  The sky was gradually lightening.  He had been staring at the ceiling all night.  Since he still didn't feel sleepy, he got up and slunk to the back door. What with the storm and the girls' arrival, he was dying to have some time to himself.  Meditation was never his strong point, but some morning katas were sure to set him right.  Snatching his trench coat from its hook, he slipped through the door and set out quietly across the icy lawn.

            She had woken up to see the rat bent over her sister.  She held her breath, willing him to leave FourSee alone.  All he did was touch her: a gentle touch on the arm.  Part of her mind cleared and a curious calm descended on her.  "He's not gonna hurt us."  She watched as the one she'd bitten got up, left the room and put on a coat on the way out the door.  She sat up slowly, shaking her head to push away the funny feelings in her brain.  Pieces of her mind refused to be silent.  "The humans sedated you.  You're always like this after they sedate you.  Remember what OneSee always says."  Her brow furrowed and she looked to her sister OneSee, the newly christened "Cabbage" hoping that OneSee would wake up and just tell her what it was that she always said.  It was so hard to think.  She looked around the room for clues.  Many sleeping turtles: not helpful.  Blankets, uh-uh.  OneSee: yes, but she was still asleep. Try again.  Then she spotted the glass of water… "Drink lots of water and walk it off!" The turtle on the sofa stirred.  "Whoops! Said that outloud," she whispered. TwoSee sat on the mattress congratulating herself; she figured it out.  She was a smartie every day.  Then her brain kicked back in, and she got up to drink the water.  

            She'd finished the glass.  She felt a little better.  No one else had woken up.  "Walk it off…" The one she bit had left through the back door.  He couldn't be that far ahead.  She grabbed a trench coat and stepped onto the back porch.     


	12. Walk it off

Hanami – Chapter 12

            Raphael finally felt warmed up.  His coat was draped across a stump, and his breath made white puffs in the frigid air.  He had begun his workout behind the barn, out of sight of the house and under a glass covered forest.  Dawn was pinking the horizon and the light glittering through the ice-covered trees was dazzling.  The cold woke him up, and the beautiful woodland distracted him from darker thoughts.  The whole thing was a picture postcard; 'Damn! Aah! _Nature_!'  It wasn't quite ancient Japan, but the ice storm smothered all the noises of the New York countryside. 'No highway sounds, no birds, no squirrels… no brothers.' He had the whole world to himself.  His own perfect kingdom – at least it was until one of his high kicks knocked all the loose water droplets from a pine tree directly down the back of his neck.  "Yeah! Shit! Shit! Goddamn trees!  That's fuckin' cold!"  He knew better than the attack the tree, but he'd broken the rhythm of his exercise, and that pissed him off more than the water down his neck.  'Well, almost more.'  He moved out from under the pines and drew a deep breath searching for the calm had drained away under the impromptu cold shower.  

            'High kick left, use the momentum to bring the body around.  Transfer the weight, still using energy from the first kick.  High kick right, dropping the body, sweep-kick left, follow the right punch back up…' He didn't really need to focus on the words.  They were only sensations: stretching his leg or bracing his body with the very ground he stood on.  If asked, he could never have explained it.  Words got in the way.  The instant you put a name to something, you were thinking too much.  He pushed himself further from words and more toward feeling towards that comfortable void.  It wouldn't do to concentrate on it too hard, the calm would slip like water through his fingers.  

'Ok.  Do not panic.  It's the outside.  You know all about the outside, girl.  You've seen movies, read books, and windows!  Yes, windows!  You've seen through a number of those in your day.  The ground is the same as inside.  Concentrate on what you know: the ground.'  TwoSee had wandered off the porch and made it about 5 yards before the incredible amount of space around her made her drop to the ground. 'Damn, the sky was BIG.'  She'd never set foot outside a building before in her life.  'Least not while conscious anyway.'  Now there were no walls around her.  There was no ceiling above her.  Just empty purple-blue.  She shut her eyes against the vertigo.  She couldn't shake the feeling that if she stood up, she would fall away from the ground.  She pressed her face against the icy grass and tried to pretend it was really weird carpet.     

Raphael spun a combination kick toward the house.  He stopped and stared.

            One of the girls was outside.  She was wearing one of his brother's trench coats, but it was huge on her.  It almost touched the ground, and the sleeves covered her hands completely.  Standing in the middle of the lawn, she kept hunching over and crouching back down again.  She seemed to be looking in the sky for some thing.  As he approached her, he could see that she was plainly distressed.    

            He watched her push herself off the ground, trying to figure out her balance.  She still seemed freaked out, but he knew that she couldn't do herself harm in the middle of the yard.  He just figured, 'This one's nuts.  She's bitten me, growled at me, and now she's doing some weird-ass interpretive dance on the lawn.  Hell, I'd be way crazier than that if I'd been in that fuckin' box.  Wonder what else she'll do.'  He squatted down on the lawn to watch.

            Truth be told, the cold air was clearing TwoSee's mind rapidly.  She was beginning to remember the events of the previous evening and her actions no longer seemed quite so well justified.  'God, I _bit him_.  Way to go, girl.  Talk about your first impressions…' She groaned inwardly at her own pun.  

            She looked up.  She froze.  He was four feet away, sitting on his heels and watching her.  She felt her face blush dark green.

            Raphael saw her blush, 'That's one of the first normal things I've seen this one do yet.'  "My name's Raphael."  He extended a hand.  "You wanna go back inside?"

            Relief bloomed on her face; she nodded vigorously.

            'An' I thought _Leo_ was a freak…' Raphael stood up, "Okay, don't worry now, I'm just gonna carry you to the porch."  Before she could argue, he'd scooped her up and deposited her on the wooden floorboards of the house.  He backed away quickly, still unsure of what would provoke her.  He went to open the door for her, but she shook her head 'no' and moved to sit on the floor with her back to the house.

She rolled up the sleeves of her coat, and figured out how to adjust her belt.  With the morning sun on her face, Raphael thought she almost looked peaceful.  Her skin was a dark green, and like Shima, her stripes were a golden color. They followed the contours of her cheekbones.  Unlike her sister, her stripes came forward and traced the line of her collarbones for a bit before dipping beneath her plastron.    Her beak and chin were a little too sharp for Raph's tastes, but he figured, 'Heck, they all look half starved, I bet she's actually —' He cut himself off.  'Nope.  Not going t' even think. She's a looney.  Psycho girl.'  

            He sat down a few feet from her and closed his eyes to enjoy the warm sunlight on his skin.  He was so lost in the warm glow, that he jumped slightly when he felt her touch his hand.  She was tracing the line where her teeth had punctured his skin.  He looked up at her questioningly. 

            TwoSee looked him in the eye, opened her mouth, and rolled out an uncanny impersonation of Raphael.  "She bit me!  She FUCKIN' bit me!"  She dropped her eyes and pulled a sheepishly embarrassed face.

            Raphael had no idea what to do, so he just let his mouth start talking.  "Why the hell'd you do that anyways?  We hadn't hurt you had we?"

            She looked away and shook her head 'no.'  

            "So why then?"

            She drew a deep breath and began to speak.  Raphael had never heard anything like it.  Her voice sounded like 2 or 3 different people talking in unison.  It was so unexpected that he missed everything she said.

            "Uh, sorry but, your voices – I mean voice – I mean…"

            She looked a bit uncomfortable, then raised her head so her could see her neck.  Where her voice box should have been there was a raised mass.  It looked like a particularly wide adams' apple.  It wasn't terribly prominent, but it wasn't quite normal.  There was a scar running across it +"Birth defect.,"+ she mumbled.  +"Double voice box.  No one noticed until after I'd been mutated, then the humans couldn't leave well enough alone. They opened it up to see how it worked.  I guess when they closed it back up it didn't heal quite right.  So now I've even more voices then I should."+  She smirked.  +"My sisters are used to it, but it does take new people by surprise."+  Looking up with a smile, she sang in harmony with herself, +"Would you like to swing on a star? / Carry moonbeams home in a jar/ And be better off than you are/ Or would you rather be a turtle?"+ She chuckled, +"Yup, OneSee teases me about it all the time.  She says that I'm my own choir.  I'm good with sounds, mimicking I mean."+  

            Raphael tilted his head, "OneSee?"

            She nodded, +"Yeah, she's the one with that horrible wound on her side.  She'll have to get that tended to before the sedative wears off.  Something tells me you guys don't have much in the way of anesthetics here."+  She gestured at the old house and peeled a paint chip off the wall.

            "Oh!  She's Cabbage!  Well that explains that."

            +"That explains nothing."+  Her stare prompted him to explain further.

            "Well there's four of us guys, right?  Leo, Don, Mike, and me.  Master Splinter is the mutant rat who raised us."  She nodded.  "Well, we each took a crate and tended the turtle inside it.  Mike got Cabb- OneSee.  He's a goofball, and he decided that until she could speak for herself, he was gonna call her 'Cabbage."  Raphael shrugged, "He's a little dip-shit really."

            +"That does explain things.   Last night I faded in and out of sleep but I could have sworn I heard somebody talking."+  Out of her mouth poured some quintessential Michelangelo, "Sweet Dreams, Cabbage… You are a totally bodacious babe!"  

            Raphael laughed so hard he felt his eyes watering.  "Yeah, that's him alright!"

            +"So have any of my other sisters been renamed?  How about me?"+

            Raphael grinned, "He named C-3 or ThreeSee, I guess --" She nodded "Frogger' because she had long legs.  And my dull-as-brick brother Leonardo called the other girl with the yellow stripes 'Shima.'  Apparently that's Japanese for 'stripe.'  But no, no one had any nicknames for you."   

            TwoSee chuckled, and extended her hand.  +"We got off to a bad start.  My name is TwoSee.  I'm sorry about yesterday.  I know it'll just sound lame, but I really wasn't myself."+

            +"I must have seemed insane to you.  Heh.  Yesterday I probably qualified.  You see both Cabbage and I experience rather inconvenient side effects whenever the humans use that drug on us.  In my case, the sedative knocks me out, but it also does a number on the balance of the chemicals in my brain.  For Cabbage; it feels really weird to call her that; anyways, as for Cabbage, it actually causes temporary muscle paralysis.  For Frogger – Does she know you've been calling her that?  She hates frogs.  Well, It just makes her abominally sleepy for a week or so, even after it's supposed to have worn off.  With Shima, well for her it just works.  No side effects what so ever."+  

As they headed into the kitchen for breakfast, Raphael thought of the one particular side effect that Shima had already suffered.


	13. Brown-eyed Girl

Hanami – Chapter 13

            'The world is upside-down, and I have to pee.'  Cabbage thought about that for a moment then she changed her mind.  'I'm upside-down, and I don't know where the toilet is.'  Satisfied that she'd straightened that out, she sat up.  She immediately regretted it.  Her whole side was on fire, and that hated sedative had chosen now to give up and go home.  'Right. The abscess.  Shit girl, how'd you forget about that one?'  She rolled onto her hands and knees, got her legs under her, and stood up.     

            She took in her surroundings.  Shima and Frogger – 'Frogger!  God, she wasn't gonna like that one when she woke up.  Heh, I wanna see 'em call her that.'  Cabbage smiled.  'Might as well have called her 'Shelly.' 

            'Ok, three options:  the stairs, the door under the stairs, or the room with the voices coming out of it.'  She approached the door under stairs, it was ajar and there was a porcelin shape lurking in the gloom.  "What's behind door number 2?  Bingo!"

            Donatello blinked away the sleep from his eyes as he leaned against the kitchen counter.  The Mr. Java coffee maker perked behind him.  "Finally!"

            "You know bro, you really are an addict."  Mikey had flour on his beak and biscuit dough in his hands.  He was heating the skillet for bacon, and had already set aside the dozen and a half eggs for omelets.  "Hey, Leo, you got that cheese grated yet?  'Cause I need you to chop up those onions.  They should caramelize first, before I can start on the omelets."

            Sighing, Leo looked over at Mikey as he dropped handfuls of doughy biscuit batter onto a cookie sheet.  "If you needed them first, why didn't you say so?"

            Donnie refilled his mug and snorted, "He wasn't thinking about omelets."  Mike shot him a look.  "Well, am I right?"  

            "MIKEY!  Good morning!" Cabbage beamed at him.  She had dimples.  Mike broke into a smile that nearly wrapped around his head.  

"Morning, Cabbage!  You hungry?"

"Am I ever!"

She turned and sighted Donatello, "And Donnie!  You did some amazing work on my side last night.  I flushed it out this morning, and there was no discoloration in the drainage what so ever.  Thank you!"  The dimples moved on again.  Don blinked.  

The dimples were now focused on his brother.  "Hi, my name is Cabbage."  She seemed genuinely thrilled about her nickname, but then again,  she could have said, "Your money or your life," and probably gotten the same goofy grin.  "I know I saw you last night, but I didn't catch your name."  Dimples.  She extended her hand.

            "Leonardo."  He hadn't broken eye contact, and was extending the hand with the block of cheese in it.  Don walked around beside Leo, grabbed his wrist, and removed the lump of cheese from his hand.  "What?  Oh."

            She smiled and shook his hand.  "It's very nice to meet you."

            Mikey put the biscuits in the oven and started the timer.  "So did you sleep well?"

            "Like the dead.  Thank you for working all those kinks out."

            Donatello was trying to figure out it she consciously knew what she was doing.  Mikey had always been a sucker for a pretty face and a smile, but Don knew his brother.  Passing crushes were one thing, but Mikey had melted, reduced to a puddle of goo in a shell by a pair of big brown eyes and a set of dimples. 

            She leaned against the counter, "So how do I help?"


	14. Slug-a-bed

Hanami – Chapter 14

            Leonardo finished washing his hands, "I'm going to go find Raphael, and tell Master Splinter that breakfast is ready.  I bet your sister, TwoSee is with one of them."

            Cabbage nodded.  "I'll go wake up the slug-a-beds."  She swiped a biscuit on her way out of the kitchen.  "Mike, this is delicious!" she called back over her shoulder. "Mmmm…"

            Shima first.  She hadn't moved at all since last night.  Cabbage shook her arm gently; there was no response.  She laid her fingers along her sister's neck; the pulse was a bit slow, but steady and strong.  Cabbage snagged an emergency flashlight from beside the sofa, and thumbed-open her sister's eye.  The pupil responded to the beam from the flashlight and contracted properly.  Her eyes were not cloudy or blood-shot.  She checked the color of the fingernails.  They were a healthy green-yellow without the brownish cast that indicated oxygen-deprivation.  She pushed open her sister's beak; her gums were a healthy pink.  Her breath didn't smell too sweet; if it had, it could have indicated an overdose.  Shima was usually one of the first ones to come around after sedation.  Cabbage sat back and tried to think.

            "You've had medical training, have you not, my child?"  She startled and found an aged rat regarding her from the stairway banister.  

            "Yes.  And I'm afraid that I don't understand.  Shima has never had difficulties with this drug before.  But this time, it's like she's just not in there.  Her body is healthy, but with that slow breathing – it reminds me of when she meditates."  Cabbage sighed.  "If that's the case, then I'm not too worried.  She only does it when she needs to, and she's always come back to us."  She shook her head, "I just get a little scared that one of these days, it won't be that at all, but I won't know any better."

            The rat joined her by the mattress.  "My name is Splinter.  I raised Leonardo and his brothers, training them in the art of ninjitsu.  It is indeed a physical art, but the ways of meditation and spiritual self-control are the blocks upon which all else is built."  He had Cabbage's undivided attention. "If you fear that your sister travels alone, I can teach you to be her beacon, and in time even to be her spiritual lifeline."  Splinter laid his hand on Shima's forehead.            "I have been able to watch over her since she was removed from her container.  However, her spirit did not know mine, and would not come when I called.  She is not currently in any danger, my child.  You are right.  She journeys back to her body even now.  We must give her time."

            Cabbage suddenly embraced Splinter.  "Thank you!  You have no idea what it would mean… to know for certain!"  She released him, and sat back.  Emotions drained away from her face, "Yes, please teach me."

            The Master smiled, "Yes, my child."  He paused, "I am going to have breakfast, will you join us?"

            Cabbage nodded, and flashing her dimples, she stood up and offered Splinter her hand.  "I'll join you in the kitchen, but first I have one more sister to wake."

            Frogger was always a bitch to wake up.  She had been solidly night-shifted by years of after-hours work at TGRI.  She rarely saw dawn from the front.  Her 'breakfasts' tended to be liquid caffeine.  Coffee was the favorite, but just about any soda would do.  The sedative only made it worse, and Cabbage knew it.  'Saved the worst for last.  Oh well, I'll try it politely once, then we'll have some fun.'  Cabbage grinned to herself, knowing full well that 'politely' wasn't gonna cut it.

            "ThreeSee?  ThreeSee, babe? It's time to get up."  She shook her sister's shoulder vigorously, and whipped the blanket off her.

            "Ung!  Noooo…." ThreeSee buried her head beneath her pillow and went limp again.  

            "Okay!"  Cabbage tore into the kitchen.  "Donnie, pour up another mug of coffee for Frogger, will ya?  And join me in the living room, I'm gonna need some help on this one."  The dimples around her smile only added more menace to an already fiendish grin


	15. Operation 'Wake Up Call'

Hanami – Chapter 15

            "Umm… sure, but you're gonna have to wait for another batch to perk."  Donnie gestured to the empty coffee pitcher.

            "Dude!  You drank all that?!"

            "Oh, just flip the bacon before it burns, will ya?" Counting the scoops Donnie shot his brother a look.  "It was only three cups.  Mr. Java here is hardly meant for hardcore coffee enthusiasts."

            Cabbage stole a piece of bacon.  "Oo!  Hot! Hot!"

            Mikey grinned, "If you waited for it to cool, you wouldn't have that problem."

            Raphael had slipped through the back door and snagged the other 3 strips of bacon.  Cabbage raised an eye-ridge, "If I waited for it to cool, I wouldn't have had that bacon."

            Raphael handed a piece to TwoSee, and spoke around a mouthful of bacon.  "You see Mike, she's catchin' on already."

            Mike wheeled around brandishing his spatula like the Swedish chef on acid.  "Ok! get OUT of the kitchen or SIT at the table!  RAPH! Put that biscuit back."

            "Wha' biscuit?" He passed half of it to TwoSee who was trying valiantly not to smile.  

            "Coffee's ready!"  

            "Great!  Com'mon sis!  It's time to go wake Frogger!"  Cabbage and TwoSee cackled and hurried from the room.  

            "Well, they've got me curious…" Raphael followed with Donatello and the coffee pot bring up the rear.

            "Ok, TwoSee, help me roll her over.  Be very careful of those knees.  Damn she's tall.  You take point.  I'll take containment."  Donatello and Raphael exchanged confused glances.

            "What exactly are you gonna do to her?"

            "Oh, you'll see, but I promise it won't hurt her and it won't make a mess."

            +"She'll just be madder then an ol' wet hen."+  

            Donatello did a double take.  "Raph, did you just hear—"

            Raph shrugged, "So?"

            By this time the girls had taken up position.  TwoSee knelt by Frogger's side, while Cabbage straddled Frogger's thighs and placed her fingers carefully on four different points near her sister's hips.  "Hold on a minute TwoSee."  Frogger's body twitched slightly.  "Ok, found the pressure points.  Let her have it."  TwoSee launched an all-out tickle attack.  Frogger's eyes flew open and bugged out, she screamed with laughter, whooping and gasping for breath. "No-nonononononononno-hahahahahaa-goddamnyoubrattybitches-whahahawhaha-stopitstopitstopit-*gasp*-I'M AWAKE-HOLYSHITYOUhahahahahAREhehehSOFUCKINGDEAD- *gasp*- I SAID I'M –whaahahahaha- AWAKE YOU FUCKERS!"  

            Donatello and Raphael stared.  The screaming had brought Leonardo, Mike and Splinter from the kitchen.  Though the whole scene practically redefined 'bizarre' in Donatello's mind, one detail stood out.  Frogger hadn't moved.  Sure she was jerking her head about and screaming, but she never tried to knock Cabbage off or to block TwoSee's attack.

            +"I believe her,"+ with that TwoSee aborted her attack and retreated.  

            Frogger watched her go with eyes like daggers, "Yeah, that's right you run!"  She directed her death-ray stare at Cabbage and bared her teeth.  "As for _you_, you're gonna have to let go some time and when you do, I'm gonna rip your _tonsils_ out through your _ass_."

            Cabbage flashed her dimples.  "Who's ever-just the most itsy-bitsy-bit cranky in da morn-ning?  You-hoo!"  She held her ground and her smile.  "You are my sunshine/ My only sunshine/ You make me happy/ When skies are grey!…  Well, sister of my heart, I have two reasons that you should leave my tonsils in place.  Number 1:  I made sure there was coffee for you.  It's hot and black and thick as tar, just the way you like it."  She broke eye contact, and nodded for Donatello to approach with Frogger's coffee.  "Number 2:  One word: Donatello."

            Frogger saw the coffee mug.  Then she saw the coffee mug bearer.  She blinked.  Cabbage pulled her hands away and sprinted for TwoSee.  She turned just in time to watch Donnie and Frogger lock gazes.  She nudged TwoSee, "Am I good or what?"


	16. An Educational Interlude

Hanami – Chapter 16

            'Her eyes--  They're not brown.  They're _gray_.  Not blue gray or slate gray but gray with light behind it.  Like an overcast day in November.'  Donatello forgot he was holding the coffee mug.  He forgot that his family was watching.  He forgot not to stare.

In the background, Cabbage and TwoSee were trying to justify their actions.

            _"Oh, it'll be FINE.  She won't kill Donnie.  She doesn't know him."_

            _+"She was hardly in the mood to take coffee from either of us.  And trust me, after that first cup of coffee, she's not nearly so homicidal."+_

'My god, will you look at him.  Purple mask.  Honey brown eyes.  And damn if he wasn't first in line when they handed out shoulders.  He's _smiling_ at me.'  Frogger felt her own mouth curl up at the corners.  'I must be grinning like an idiot; but just this once, I don't care.'

            __

            The word 'homicidal' finally registered in Frogger's mind.  "Cryptodiracidal*," she corrected her sister without thinking.

            Donatello was the only one to laugh out loud.  He passed her the mug, "Good one."  She peeked at him over the edge of the mug.

            "See, she's already being mouthy in Latin.  She's fine."  Cabbage and TwoSee headed back to the kitchen.  Cabbage called over her shoulder, "Breakfast's ready.  Carpe Diem**!"  

Donatello helped her to her feet just in time to hear her mumble, "Yeah, yeah, one of these days it's gonna be Carpe Jugulum.***"  He was still chuckling when he picked her up and carried her gently to the kitchen.

Splinter followed after them shaking his head, "Kids."

Notes on Latin (or "Why all that up there was funny.")

*-- Cryptodira: Latin name for a taxonomical classification (in this case a "sub-order") which includes fresh water turtles, snapping turtles, tortoises, soft shell turtles, and sea turtles.  In English, that would be the latin name for all those kinds of turtles.  

_The joke:_  Homicidal = wanting to kill a human

so Cryptodiracidal = wanting to kill a turtle.

**-- Carpe Diem: Latin phrase meaning "Seize the Day."

***-- Carpe Jugulum:  Latin phrase meaning "Seize the Throat."

             


	17. Origins

Hanami – Chapter 17

            Mikey'd been quite busy in the kitchen.  He'd set everything out on the table, serving-board fashion.  "Ok, Dudes and dudettes, take a plate and go on round the table."  He pulled his apron over his head.  "There's just not enough space for all 8 of us to eat in the kitchen, so I figured we could eat in the living room."  The girls eyed the spread with open astonishment.  There were bacon and biscuits, omelets and toast, bananas and apples, orange juice and milk, coffee and even cold cereal.

            "I don't think I've ever seen this much food in one place," Frogger breathed.

            +"Ditto."+

            "And we're allowed to eat any of it?"  Cabbage was clearly in shock.

            Mike grinned; he loved it when folks appreciated his cooking.  "Yup, as much as you want.  Just don't make yourselves sick now.  There's always lunch and dinner too."

            "You're kidding.  You guys always eat this well? No wonder you're all huge!"  As soon as the words fell out of Frogger's mouth, she blushed a deep evergreen color.  "Sorry."  Her apology was drowned out by laughter all around.  

Donatello realized he was still carrying her and set her on her feet gently.   He smiled up at her, "It's ok, nobody's upset."

"Oh Mikey!  You're the BEST!" Cabbage wrapped her arms around Mike's shoulders and planted a quick peck on his cheek.  She pulled away to stand in line, grinning like a Cheshire cat with dimples.  Donatello could have sworn he saw Mike's knees buckle for a split second, before he hurried after her, trying to recommend the best of the potential breakfast foods.

TwoSee caught up with Frogger.  +"You're not mad are you?  I mean, you know we worry…  That drug is nasty shit.  The longer you slept, the harder it'd been to wake you."+

Frogger nodded.  "I understand that now that I'm awake.  Sorry I was so ugly about it when I first woke up.  I couldn't help myself."

+"Forgiven?"+

"Forgiven."  The two sisters smiled at each other and picked up some plates.  "Of course, that doesn't mean I'll forgive you again if you do it again tomorrow."

+"Of course."+

Seven conscious turtles and one rat sat or lounged around the living room.  Splinter had finished his breakfast first and was recounting the turtles' origins.  "…The little ones were crawling in a strange glowing ooze…"  One by one the girls finished eating, but patiently waited out the end of the tale.  "…My sons: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael."

"Very pleased to meet you."

+"Hello."+

"Hi."  Frogger cleared her throat, and glanced at Cabbage who waved her on.  "The timeline of our personal history runs parallel to your own.  In the late 1970's, TechnoGlobal Research Institute was founded as a private research company.  It received several large government contracts shortly there after.  At this point in history, there was an impressive build up of weapons of mass destruction within the United States.  Everything from nuclear weaponry left over from WWII in the 1940's and the "Red Scare" back in the 1950's to vast amounts of napalm and agent orange from the US foray into Vietnam." 

"TGRI was charged with two tasks:  find out how well any and all of those chemicals would keep (is Uncle Sam sitting on a powder keg?)  and (because it was the Cold War and nobody trusted the USSR) if none of these chemicals were safe to have around, then design something that can be used as a powerful weapon, but could also be stored without fear of contaminating our own shores.  A pretty tall order, huh?" 

"Now, here's where even I have to admit that it gets vague.  I know that TGRI had most of the top Chemical Engineers in the country working on these two assignments.  Work proceeded at a feverish pace, because Americans were terrified of falling behind in the Soviet arms race.  While I do not know the specifics, I do know that the humans were hoping to make a weapon, much akin to napalm or agent orange: one-coat, spray-on-application death.  They came up with mutagen: certain radioactive chemicals that cause mutations.  Some mutations are lethal, like cancer.  That's a natural mutation where one cell type grows rapidly out of control.  Others, like our own, are merely forced adaptations of an organism's entire body."

Don handed her a glass of water.  "Thanks."

"TGRI developed a series of mutagenic compounds, and proceeded with animal testing.  The ones that killed outright were hailed a success.  Their projects were declared complete and their personnel were moved to tackle the other less lethal, but no doubt just as necessary mutagen compounds.  It was the loss of a canister of Sample type 56X that triggered panic inside the walls of TGRI.  They did not know if a spy had swiped the canister for reverse-engineering purposes.  They did not know if it had fallen off the back of a truck, exposing god-knows how many civilians to its effects.  It might as well have disappeared."  She paused.  "Ironic, isn't it?"

"From that point on, testing was focused on Sample type 56X.  The humans assumed the worst: that the population at large had been or would be exposed to this horrible chemical.  Therefore they tested it on just about anything they could get their hands on, turtles included."   


	18. Overwhelming

Hanami – Chapter 18

            "I suppose the next step is to explain where we fit in all this."  Frogger watched TwoSee get up and sit back down next to Shima.  She took her sleeping sister's hand, and tried very hard to ignore Frogger's words.   "Our names OneSee, TwoSee, ThreeSee, and FourSee were derived from our TGRI designations.  We were units C 1 through 4 of Section 29 Project 56X.  The "C" indicated that we were in a 'control' group.  For the sake of comparison, all experiments have one.  The data points generated by it are considered to be the average, or natural median of all other data points collected from all other groups.  That meant that we were allowed to grow up without the horrors that the humans inflicted on the other groups of turtles.  We grew up "naturally" or "normally."   While all around us, our sisters were addicted to various substances, sleep deprived, starved, dehydrated, subjected to brain lesions, harvested for dissection at certain ages—"

            A small voice interrupted.  +"We've gotta find help! TwoDee's bleeding. TwoDee's bleeding…"+  TwoSee still held Shima's hand, but her eyes were glassy.  She was rocking back and forth gently and petting Shima's hand to the same rhythm.  +"TwoDee's bleeding."+  Her voice sounded very young and very frightened.

            Cabbage was immediately at her side.  She held her sister and made hushing sounds, "Now Two, come on.  She'll be ok.  Why don't we go outside, huh?"

            +"NO!  I'M NOT GONNA LEAVE HER!  I _promised_.  I promised."+  TwoSee broke down into tears, still rocking and patting Shima's hand. +"…bleeding…"+

            "Ok, it's ok.  No one will make you leave her.  She's happy you're staying. Hush now.  It's alright."  Cabbage rocked with her sister until TwoSee slowly stopped.  TwoSee, still hand in hand with Shima, laid her head in Cabbage's lap and silently dropped tears on her leg.

            "I believe it would be best if we left off story telling for a while."  Splinter looked to Frogger, who had not moved since TwoSee's first outburst.  "Do you not agree, child?"

            Frogger watched with no trace of expression on her face.  She took a gulp of water, and continued.  "You see, at that point we were all in cages: one group of four turtles in each.  TwoSee's friend TwoDee used to play through the bars with us.  That was until—"

            "THREESEE STOP! Please!?"  Cabbage pleaded.  "TwoSee's had as much as she can stand.  I'm trying not to loose it.  And to top it off, you're retreating from us again.  Master Splinter, ThreeSee's _gone inside_ if that makes any sense and so has TwoSee."  Tears threatened to overflow, "I can't help them both by myself."

            "No my child, nor would we let you."  Splinter approached Frogger; she flinched when he touched her forehead.  He turned to Cabbage, "Are there any games she likes to play?  Any hobbies she enjoys?  Any thing that makes her especially happy?"

            "Games?"  Cabbage looked blank for a moment.  "Um, Yes!  She used to love playing chess.  They made her stop because they wanted her working on other things."

            Splinter turned to Donatello, "Have you a chess set here?"

            "Hai, sensei."

            "Good, bring it and a warm blanket.  You two can play on the kitchen table."

            "Yeah, sure."  

            "Don?"  Cabbage touched his arm.  "Don't call her 'Frogger.'  She hates frogs.  Go ahead and give her a different nickname.  I think the sooner we're free of our designations the happier we'll be, but 'Frogger' will only make her mad."

            Donatello smiled, "Sure thing."


	19. Checkmate.

Hanami – Chapter 19

            Leonardo was on his way to the barn.  His sensei and his brothers had things well in hand back at the house.  He would only be in the way there.  He did not mind.  Not really.  There was still the duty.  He could handle that.

            Donatello kept a stash of tools in a bin under his workbench in the barn.  Leonardo cut across the lawn, making a list of things he'd need.  'A hammer, some nails, a saw, and the lids from the crates will do as lumber.'  He left footprint-shaped puddles on the thawing grass behind him.  

            Perry's letter, Shima's miscarriage, her prolonged slumber, her sisters' pain, and he could do NOTHING.  Helplessness was something he'd spent his whole life fighting.  He trained to give himself purpose.  He obeyed to give himself identity.  He commanded to avoid losing his most precious want: Control.  Yes, Raphael tried to take it from him from time to time, but he could deal with Raphael.  How do you fight the past?  How can you grip the here and now and fix what went wrong, start over again, if there's nothing stable to start with?  

            Leonardo decided to start with what he knew: duty.  Something must be done, and no matter how unpleasant, he would do it.  He'd never built a coffin before, but such a small one shouldn't be too hard.

            Donatello set up the chessboard on the kitchen table.  The afternoon sunlight had warmed the kitchen, and the hot cocoa he'd started filled the room with its chocolate fragrance.  ThreeSee was picking up the pieces, examining them like she'd never held chessmen before.  She caught him staring, and stammered, "I-I've never played with a _real_ board before."  He turned from stirring the cocoa.  "They taught me on computer programs."

            "Ah.  I see.  Well, for the most part I play on the computer myself.  None of my brothers like the game, and I feel bad about pestering Master Splinter about it too much."  He handed her a warm mug of cocoa with marshmallows on top.  "Careful it's hot."

            She stared at the marshmallows.  "What are these?"

            "Marshmallows.  Spun sugar.  They'll dissolve in your cocoa – makes the stuff that much better."  He handed her a spoon.  "So, what do you think of Cabbage's nickname?"

            She looked up from poking at the marshmallows.  She grinned, "I think if I had to associate her with a vegetable, cabbage would've been in the top ten."  She chuckled, "As long as she's happy with it, I think it's good that she got rid of that designation name."  Her voice had flattened again.

            Not wanting to bring it up again later, Donatello pressed on, "Have you given a thought to a new name?"  She frowned into her mug, and took a sip.  "'Cause I was thinking about it."  She glanced up.  He felt the words rush out before his courage deserted him.  "You've got such beautiful gray eyes, I thought maybe we could call you 'Sterling."  

            She sat staring at him.  'He's holding his breath.  He compliments me and he's waiting to see if I'm going to be _mad_.'  She smiled gently at him.  "That sounds like a lovely name.  Thank you."  'He's so sweet, but I don't know what else to say.  I'll just start the game and maybe he won't notice that he's got me blushing _again.'_

            Donnie's heart started beating again.  'She likes the name!  She's blushing again.  Ack! She opened with a knight!'  He quickly put a queen-side pawn into play.

            TwoSee had excused herself about fifteen minutes ago.  Raphael wasn't worried, of course.  He just wanted to find her.  She hadn't been upstairs, so he went to check the back porch.  He passed through the kitchen, ducked his head out the back door, and made a quick sweep of the area.  Nothing.  Back in the kitchen, he asked, "Who's winning?"

            "He is."

            "She is."

            Both of the chess players laughed hysterically.  Raphael left the kitchen and rolled his eyeballs, mumbling, "…nerds in love…"

            Donatello was ecstatic.  Sterling made an incredible opponent.  He had been worried when she set up such an obvious defense.  A row of staggered pawns didn't allow for much mobility, she'd have to give that up sooner or later.  Donatello felt he'd left himself with far more options since he hadn't committed to a defense strategy, just an offensive one.  He broke through one end of her line of pawns, but she'd be waiting for it.  She castled her king to the far corner!  She grinned; over the next few turns, he watched her pick off both his bishops and force his retreat.  'What a girl!'  


	20. Apple blossom time

Hanami – Chapter 20

            Raphael wandered back through the living room.  It was empty now except for the breakfast dishes and Shima's still form.  "Where the fuck is everyone?"  TwoSee and Cabbage weren't ninjas, and judging from TwoSee's reaction to open spaces this morning, they probably weren't outside.  He stopped in his tracks and called himself twelve kinds of fool.  There was a front porch too.

            As soon as he opened the front door, he spotted her.  She was sitting in the lower branches of an apple tree, just caddy-corner about 25 yards from the front of the house.  "What the hell?"  Then he saw his brother.  Leo was digging a hole beneath the tree.  As Raph approached he heard his brother talking.  

            "…What with the storm and all, this couldn't be done last night." _Shovel._  "Master Splinter seemed to think we should wait for Shima to wake before we committed them to the earth."  _Shovel._  "But the tempurature's rising, and Shima's still sleeping, and it just doesn't feel right to leave them in the barn another night."  _Shovel._

            Raphael saw the tiny coffin.  He looked over at TwoSee.  She stared back, but made no sound. _Shovel._

            "I think they'll like it here."  _Shovel_.  "In spring this whole row of trees bloom with thousands of tiny pink blossoms."  _Shovel._  "It smells so nice, and the honeybees drone."  _Shovel._  "It's one of my favorite places to meditate in the spring."  _Shovel._  "It's nice in the summer, too."  _Shovel_.  "The leaves come in so thick and green; it stays cool and shady even when late July and August roll around."  _Shovel_.  Leo looked up, "Apple trees look as though they were made for climbing."  He looked back at the earth.  "I hope they enjoy it here."  He set aside the shovel and turned to his brother.  "Raphael, will you help me with the casket?"  

            Raphael nodded.  They both knew it didn't require two of them to lay the tiny thing in the ground, but it felt better that way.  TwoSee quietly stepped out of the tree.  She took a handful of dirt and released it over the coffin.  +"I'm sorry there are no flowers for you now, but Leonardo promised you flowers every spring, and spring is on its way."+

            She knelt silently by the grave, Raphael standing beside her, while they watched Leonardo fill the hole.  


	21. Revelations

Hanami – Chapter 21

            "Checkmate."  

            Sterling grimaced, "Well, that's what I get for taking a chance.  The best I could've hoped for was perpetual check.  I thought I'd go for it."  She shrugged, "But, you got me."  She pulled a hideous French accent, "Oui, I soo-ren-dare!"

            Donnie chuckled, "If France put up half as good a struggle as you did, the Germans wouldn't have come back for seconds."  

            Grinning, she caught Donnie's hand.  "So if I ask for a rematch, I won't be denied?"

            "Are you kidding?  I'll accept your challenge any day of the week, but never in the month of Octember."

            "What are you talking about?"  Sterling hurled the white king at his head and missed.

            "Whoa, she's dangerous, folks!  Regicide! Regicide!"

            "Yeah, yeah. The King is dead.  Long live the King."  She wiggled the black king, and placed it in the center of the board.  "So you know what I'm thinking?"  She sighed, and picked up the casserole pan that had held the omelets that morning.  "I think it was really sweet of Mike to cook all that food for us and it would be a shame to make him do dishes, too."  She tilted her head, "So I wash, you dry?  You know where most of this stuff goes."

            "If the lady insists."

            "Lay-dee!? Wha'choo talkin' 'bout, foo'?"

            "You do not have to do this, child."

            "I understand."  Cabbage, Michelangelo, and Splinter were seated in the upstairs room that Splinter had used for his meditations earlier that morning.  "Unfortunately, there are many things which should not go unsaid.  Clearly my sisters are as unable to articulate them in one another's company as I am.  I would fall to pieces if I pushed either TwoSee or ThreeSee too far.  It's for the best if I just tell you, and you can discuss things with them privately."  Cabbage sadly smiled.  "You'd think we'd be stronger as a group, but it just doesn't work that way.  It's more like dominoes, tip one of us and we're all gone."

            Michelangelo took her hand and squeezed it gently.  She didn't pull it back.

            "Let's see, ThreeSee left off this morning with explanation for the units: four specimens per group, each group was given a letter of the alphabet.  I don't know if there were A-Z groups, but it was close enough that it made no difference."

            "Bear in mind, all these groups were made of turtles: female turtles.  It prevented breeding for one thing.  It also insured that any data collected was not influenced by differences in gender among the specimens.  But the most important thing to the humans in the lab: females, regardless of species, TEND (not are) to be more docile then the males."

            "I'm sure you're wondering why TGRI would bother to research 56X's effects solely on turtles.  The answer would be that they didn't.  Remember how ThreeSee said she was Unit C-3 of _SECTION 29_ Project 56X?   Your section number referred to your species.  There were cats, dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs, real pigs, monkeys, some roaches, chimps, rabbits, frogs, the list just goes on and on.  Every section had a control group.  Every section was populated solely with females."

            Michelangelo looked at her in horror, "Roaches?"  Cabbage nodded.

"Once it was established that the mutagen did indeed cause humanoid tendencies in just about every species it came into contact with, the majority of the more dangerous sections were terminated.  As time passed, it became evident that even traditional lab animals posed a threat, what with heightened IQ and increased mass, and even more sections were terminated.  There was a rumor in the first year alone that a cat from their section's control group had actually killed a researcher."

"At this point, a year or so into the experiments, a young doctor, Prof. James Perry entered our lives."  Cabbage stopped, and looked around in surprise.  Some one was _growling_.  

Mike couldn't figure why Cabbage and Splinter were staring at him.  With a start, he realized he'd been growling.  He stopped, blushing furiously.  "Channeling Raph, there for a moment.  Sorry."

Cabbage looked at Mike and Splinter, "You must have known Prof. Perry somehow, or my sisters and I wouldn't be here.  I take it you don't think too highly of him?"


	22. Internal dialogue.

Hanami – Chapter 22

            Leonardo tamped the last of the earth into place on the grave.  Raphael watched him head back to the house.  He looked down at TwoSee.  She sat perfectly still, watching something that he couldn't see from a past he didn't share.  Introspection generally made him uncomfortable.  Dwelling on the past couldn't change it.  If the consequences were really that terrible, think about things long enough to figure out how not to do it again.  Thinking about things meant putting names to them, and if words were involved, you were probably thinking too much.

            He got mad at the stupidity of the world:  the choices he hadn't known were there, the mistakes that he couldn't undo, all the things that he couldn't prepare for and couldn't fight.  Hindsight was 20/20; that's the cast iron bitch.  'Wait until it's too late, then show me what I did wrong.  The universe is set up bass-ack-ward, but who do you complain to?'  He sighed quietly.  Just because meditation conjured demons for him didn't mean that TwoSee shouldn't take whatever time she needed to grieve.  

            He sat down next to her and waited patiently for her to come back to herself.  It never once occurred to him to just go back into the house without her.

            Leo left the shovel on the porch and dusted off the best he could, but the mud only smeared.  As he entered the living room, he could hear ThreeSee and Donatello in the kitchen.  'Sounds like they're having a water fight.'  He knelt down next to Shima and touched her cheek.  'She feels a little warmer.  Though I was just outside, it could just be me.'  Without any real thought behind it, Leonardo settled himself comfortably on a mattress near Shima's pallet.  He willed his breathing to calm and his heart to slow.  He shut his eyes and difted away from the giggles and splashes coming from the kitchen.

            Inside the quiet of his own mind, he sorted through his emotions and thoughts.  Patiently sorting them, he cleared space in his thoughts.  The space grew as he simplified his thoughts and considered his emotions.  His own heartbeat filled his mind's ears.  He felt a peace develop inside him that he hadn't known for months. 

            "It is a lovely place you've chosen."  Leonardo's eyes flew wide open.  He was standing outside.  The apple trees were in bloom.  A young turtle about his age sat beneath one of them, cradling a pair of sleeping infants.  She looked up at him, with a gentle light in her eyes, "Thank you."

            Leonardo's eyes flew wide open.  He was seated on a mattress – not standing outside.  He was so off balance he nearly fell off the pallet.  He quickly checked on Shima, but she hadn't moved.  In a daze, he stumbled upstairs to clean the mud off himself.


	23. Sing for your supper

Hanami – Chapter 23

            Splinter cleared his throat, "I believe your contact with Professor Perry predates our own.  Our initial feeling for him had been friendship, but certain recent events have called his sincerity into question."

            "He packed you in boxes!" Mikey wailed.

            Splinter raised a silencing hand toward Michelangelo.  "Maybe it would be best to continue the tale?"

Cabbage nodded.  

"Prof. Perry was the only reason my sisters and I survived the purges that followed the first panicked year of experimentation.  The experiments and their results had already decimated the sections' populations.  Mostly all that remained were the control groups of 'non-hostile' species: some turtles, some frogs, mice, a random handful, really."

"Since no threats had been made to the government and no mutants had suddenly surfaced, TGRI's interest in chemical 56X was beginning to wane.  Skilled personnel were moved back to defense projects.  Funding for project 56X faced drastic cut backs."

"Prof. Perry argued that it was far too soon to terminate the mutant experiments.  He felt that while our physical abilities were well charted, TGRI had neglected to study our minds.  He proposed that each one of the four in the several remaining control groups be subjected to rigorous study in one of four subjects:  biological science, traditional "engineering" science, world languages and literature, and the fine arts."

"It took some doing, but his proposal went through, with the caveat:  the creatures were to be destroyed after a term of 2 years."

"Now, I don't know what Prof. Perry told the other control groups, but I do know what he told my sisters and I.  Our lives depended on one thing alone: money.  If we wished to live, we had to prove to TGRI that we were worth more alive than dead."

"We were moved into a real room.  They gave us our first real beds.  The humans hammered us with aptitude tests in that first week.  They explained to us that our training would allow us to work, and if we worked then we would be spared.  Mind you, as the budget was thinned over the course of the years, the human promises about working for our lives changed in tone.  They were monitoring all the test groups, you see.   Whenever the money ran low, they'd kill off the group whose test scores were the lowest."

"It ceased to be 'train to be valuable' and evolved into 'train to be the best.'  At the end of the two-year term of Perry's experiment, only my sisters and I were left.  We had years to go before we would be of any substantial use to TGRI, but our progress was such that Prof. Perry was able to buy us more time."

"I had been chosen to tackle the biological sciences:  human and veterinary medicine, chemistry as it relates to pharmacology, microbiology, and research practices.  It was an awful lot to learn, but then there was nothing else for me to do – and you'd be amazed how studious you can be when some one's threatening your family.  It was thought that I would be the mutant who contributed the most to TGRI.  After all, I could work in the very labs that spawned me.  I was safe to be trusted with top-secret project information, because I was not allowed to speak to any but my tutors and Dr. Perry, and if the human knew about my sisters and I, they already had security clearance to anything I may have seen.  But mostly the largest reason: I was disposable.  I could be put into dangerous situations that no normal human would accept without TGRI needing to pay exorbitant amounts of money.  I worked for the food I ate, the medical attention I received, the room I shared with my sisters, and the privilege of breathing."

"ThreeSee tested highest in engineering sciences:  physics, math, electrical engineering, fluid dynamics, computer sciences.  They used her for everything from plumbing repair to generating schematics for security systems.  She also earned her keep the same way I did: with the money she saved the company."

"Shima has attained fluency in more languages than I can count.  All her literature studies made her an excellent writer.  The sad thing is that they used her for a glorified secretary.   Translators are highly paid professionals -- especially ones who can look at complicated scientific research papers and convert them accurately into another language.  TGRI did have government contracts; it's true.  However, the company was a privately owned research firm.  Their scientists were almost constantly trying to publish their results.  The more people who knew about TGRI, particularly in the international circles of the scientific community, the higher TGRI's stock prices.  They eventually expanded her duties to editing the papers to be published in English in addition to all her translation work.  Shima became the sole channel for publishable papers leaving TGRI."

"TwoSee.  The artist.  The trained musician.  You'd think that she would be the one whose inability to make money would have earned us all a trip to 'Mr. Happy-Needle."  Cabbage shook her head.  "She was so paranoid about not being able to pull her weight.  I mean; we were all scared.  Prof. Perry made it clear as crystal that it was the earning power of the _GROUP_ that determined our lifespan."  She looked up with a bewildered expression.  "But Perry had thought of that: how to make an artist who does not exist in the real world make money.  He sold off the property rights to her musical compositions.  He sold her original paintings, her sculptures, and, heh, even her counterfeits of the old masters.  And he was clever about it.  Since no one was ever going to meet the artist, anyone who bought her work, well, they could take credit for it, couldn't they?  She's good, you know.  Good enough that aspiring artists with enough money and enough need for a reputation were willing to pay obscene amounts to have one of her pieces on their resume."

Mike spoke up,  "But I didn't think aspiring artists had money."

"They did when they sold my sister's work as their own.  That alone usually covered the cost of them buying it themselves.  Then they had a reputation, and that's apparently a suitable substitute for talent in the art world."

"She ended up out-earning us all.  Prof. Perry convinced TGRI that we were in fact more valuable alive.  Killing us would have been killing the goose that laid the golden egg.  His way was not the easy way, and we did run into trouble eventually, but by then we had survived for seventeen years." 


	24. Listen.

Hanami – Chapter 24

            Raphael's eyes followed a pair of cardinals through the bushes on the side of the house.  When they flew off, he turned his eyes back to TwoSee.  She had settled into a cross-legged position and was resting her chin in her hands.  She'd been that way for the past half hour.  Raphael almost jumped when she raised her head.  Staring out toward the late afternoon horizon, she spoke.  

            +"They raped her, you know."+  With her strange voice, the words sounded so hollow, they echoed.  +"When word came down from on high that TGRI would be declaring bankruptcy, the humans that had spent years working on top-secret projects just lost it.  I guess they had every reason to be mad.  They had lost their jobs, and couldn't find new ones because you can't put 'Researcher of Governmentally Sensitive Shite' on a resume.  Any researcher with a gigantic 7 year gap in their employment history just wasn't gonna get hired anywhere else, no matter how brilliantly their career started."+

            +"It doesn't excuse what they did.  NOTHING could excuse what they did.  But they'd always hated us.  My sisters and I were smart, highly trained, we'd been at TGRI since before most of the researchers graduated from high school, and best of all – in the company's eyes anyway – we were slaves.  No rights, no wages, minimal health care, and all they had to do was threaten one of us to make the others tow the line.  How do you compete with that, huh?"+

            +"For the human employees, we represented the jobs and rank that they'd never be able to attain.  Never you mind that we had no real power in the company.  We were just freaks who stole their opportunities.  If we hadn't taken on so many responsibilities, my sisters and I would have been terminated because we didn't 'earn our keep.'  On the other hand, our 'work ethic' cost the other employees their jobs and promotions.  It was no wonder they hated us."+

            +"I imagine the hostility would have come into the open sooner if Prof. Perry hadn't been in charge of our project.  He kept us isolated, and while we resented him for it, we were grateful for the protection."+

            +"The company declared bankruptcy.  Prof. Perry disappeared.  His second in command, Prof. Atkins, took over, changed our assignments, and looked the other way when the abuse started.  After a week of Perry's absence, Atkins was officially given Project 56X.  He was horrified. The last thing he wanted was to have his name associated with our project.  He didn't want us alive when the company went under and the files went on public record.  He had been arguing with Perry about the termination of my sisters and I for months.  Once he had the power to do so, he set an execution date."+ 

            TwoSee looked to Raphael.  +"We were dead turtles walking, and the whole department knew it."+  She bowed her head and spoke into the ground.  +"It couldn't have been a grudge, Shima got along with almost everyone.  But they were drunk and ThreeSee and I were working late.  A group of humans cornered Cabbage and Shima in the one room we all shared.  They knifed Cabbage with some kind of scalpel thing, rammed it so far down into her side, that it took us hours to get it back out.  They hit her until she couldn't move, and raped poor Shima."+

            Tears were rolling down her cheeks, but if her voice shook at all, it was from anger.  +"I came home with enough time to stop both my sisters from bleeding to death, but I am no doctor.  I have never hated myself so much in my life.  I couldn't help.  I had no idea what to do.  My skills and training were in the _fucking fine arts._ "+

            She took a ragged breath.  +"Shima was in the worst way.  Shima, our mother.  I know we were all the same age, but she was always older some how.  She settled the arguments, soothed the tempers, stayed awake by your side all night if you needed her.  She gave up her rations whenever one of us was sick, so that we'd have enough to eat and 'get better on.'  It didn't matter if we only ending throwing them back up anyways.  She just didn't complain.  I know I make her sound like a saint, but I'll be damned if she deserved what happened.  It shouldn't have been her."+

            Raphael was speechless, but she kept going.  +"Then Perry shows up out of no where.  Promises to set us free of TGRI.  We have to be patient, because he planned on faking our deaths.  With that execution order looming about a month away, it would all look official.  He told us that he would give us heavy sedation instead of lethal injections, and ship the bodies off to be 'disposed of.'  When we woke up we would be free of TGRI for good."+

            +"Initially we all agreed to the plan, but as the month passed, Shima discovered her pregnancy."+  She looked Raphael in the eye.  +"Cabbage did the math.  She's a ditz, but she's a doctor, and a damn good one.  Perry promised that we'd only be in the boxes for two days, and would be sedated accordingly.  Cabbage told Shima there would be minimal health risks to the children based on a two-day dose.  Shima agreed to go ahead with the plan."+

            Raphael found his voice, "But you guys were in those boxes for five days," he whispered.

            She wrapped her arms around her knees and cried as though her heart would break.  He pulled her towards him and held her while she sobbed against his shoulder.     


	25. Karaoke

Hanami – Chapter 25

            TwoSee pulled away.  Her tears had subsided; she was just too empty to cry.  +"Thank you for putting up with my hysterics.  I hate losing it, but I seem to be doing it more and more often."+

            Raph frowned, "I don't 'put up' with nothin' – ask my brothers about that one.  As for losing it, you've been drugged and god knows what else, and you're still using whole sentences.  Things'll get better.  You're with us now."  He stood up and stretched.  "I'm sure Mikey's cooking somethin' by now.  Let's go in and see, huh?"

            She nodded and took his hand, pulling herself off the turf.  He placed a finger under her chin and raised her head.  "It'll be ok, Pipes.  We won't let anything happen to you or your sisters."

            +"Pipes?"+

            "Piper?"  Raph floundered, pulling out names, hoping she'd like one of them and then he wouldn't feel so stupid, "Chime?  Melody?  Choral?  Harmony?  Uh, Susan?  Jane?  Jenny? -- " Her laughter cut his list short.

            She grinned, one hand resting on her throat.  +"No, it's ok.  Call me Pipes."+

            Cabbage and Mike left Splinter and headed down to the kitchen.  "So what're you gonna want for dinner –"  Mike stopped short in the doorway.  The kitchen was spotless.  He glanced at the chess game in progress.  Donnie and ThreeSee were completely oblivious to everything save the board.  Mike cleared his throat, "Eh-hem… so Donnie, did you and ThreeSee clean up all that breakfast stuff?"

            She looked away from the board, "Call me Sterling.  And yeah, after he won the last game, I asked him to clean the kitchen."

            Donnie moved a rook, "You say that like those two statements had something to do with one another.  If you win this one, are you gonna clean up the dinner dishes?"  

            She moved her remaining knight, "Nope.  Check."

            "Shit!"  Donnie leaned over the board.

            Cabbage shook her head, "Ok Mike, how do I help?  What are we gonna eat?  Do you have a spare apron for me?"

            Mike was hip-deep in the pantry, pulling out canned tomatoes, pasta, dried basil, garlic cloves, and three baguettes from the shelves.  "Spaghetti and meatballs, with roasted garlic and olive oil bread, and green salad."  He grinned as her eyes widened; she was so cute.  "If you wanna help, you can make the salad.  The veggies are in the fridge.  Oh! and here's two aprons, pick one."  Mike tried desperately to keep a straight face as he watched her try to decide between the 'Kiss the Cook' and his other favorite 'Anything Tastes Better Dipped in Chocolate.'  

            She raised an eye ridge at him, and broke out laughing.  "I'll take the chocolate one."  Her smile was all dimples, but he could tell from the look in her eye that she had caught the innuendo.

            He flipped on the radio and helped her tie her apron.  "Oh!  I know this song!"  

            Sterling looked up and groaned.  "Not this song* AGAIN."  She turned to Donnie, "Cover your ears, she's gonna sing."  She moved a bishop and followed her own advice.

            Mikey stared as Cabbage grabbed a carrot from the crisper bin and danced over to her sister.  Using the veggie as her 'mike,' she proceeded to drown out the radio.

            _I don't care what my SISTERS say_

_            I'm gonna be a SuperModel_

_            And everyone _

_            Is gonna dress like me_

Sterling glared at her sister, "What nothing but an apron?"

_            When I'm a SuperModel_

_            And my hair will shine like the Sea-ee-ee_

"You're BALD!"

_            And everyone_

_            Will wanna look _

_            JUST LIKE ME – Eee-ee-ee!_

Cabbage smirked, "And nothing like you, toad-girl."

_            Cause I'm young, and I'm hip, So beautiful_

_            I'm gonna be a SuperModel. _

_Cause I'm young, and I'm hip, So beautiful_

Sterling caught Donatello's eye, "And modest, did she tell you that?"

_            I'm gonna be a SuperModel. _

Donatello raised his hands in self-defense, "I'm not getting involved in this.  Check."

_            I wish that I_

_            Was like Tori Spelling_

Mikey was laughing so hard his eyes were watering.  He snagged a piece of celery and joined in, crooning into Don's ear.

_            With a Car like hers and a Dad like hers_

_            And I would show 'em how_

_            How it was done_

Cabbage dissolved into laughter, but danced over to Mike and sang on Donnie's other side.

_            That'd be fun_

_            That'd be fun._

_            And I'd write my school report_

_            On why I love my genes_

_            Why I love my genes_

_            Yeah, and on my locker door_

_            It's the coolest thing that you've ever seen_

Donnie waved them away, so they double-teamed Sterling instead.

_            Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

_            Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

_"We didn't eat yesterday.  And We're not gonna eat today.  And We're not gonna eat tomorrow.  Cause We're gonna be SuperModels."_

Sterling pelted them with pawns until they moved off.  Mikey and Cabbage danced round in kitchen, singing into their vegan microphones.  Raphael and Pipes glanced around the doorframe.  "My God.  There's TWO of 'em." 

_Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

_            Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

_Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

_            Cause WE're young, and WE're hip, So beautiful_

_            WE're gonna be SuperModels. _

"Checkmate." 

Donatello sighed. "Ok, you won; let's get the hell out of the kitchen."

_            Gonna be a SuperModel._

_            Gonna be a SuperModel_

_"We're gonna be SuperModels…"_

*-- that song, "SuperModel" performed by Jill Sobule, is not mine, but I put it in this fiction anyway, because I thought it'd be funny.


	26. Dinner time

Hanami – Chapter 26

            Master Splinter had gathered three of his sons to him.  "While Michelangelo and Cabbage prepare our evening meal, I feel that I should discuss some things with you."  He paused, making sure he had their entire attention.  "I already know Michelangelo's opinion in this matter; he gave it before I even asked."

            "Dr. Perry sent these girls to us with the intention that I should adopt them.  Turtles though they may be, you are my pupils and my sons.  My home is also your own, and I am reluctant to open it to them without first knowing how you feel."

            He held a restraining hand in the air.  "Wait before you speak, Cabbage shared more of her story with Michelangelo and myself, but we still do not know how her sister came to be pregnant or why they were sent to us as they were."

            Raphael caught his sensei's gaze.  "I think I can explain that one."

            Pipes and Sterling watched Shima's sleeping form.  "She's really lost weight."

Pipes nodded.

            +"I don't think I've ever seen her sleep for so long."+

            "Cabbage would have told us if anything was _really_ wrong with her."  Pipes could read the question in her sister's statement.  

            +"I don't think Cabbage knows—"+

            "I don't know what?"  Cabbage brought over some glasses of water.  Her apron was gone.  "Mike's a one-turtle-show in there."  She grinned, "After the salad was done, I was just in the way."  She took a long pull from her glass, "So what don't I know?"

            +"Well, earlier today I saw Leonardo digging under a tree in the front yard…"+

Mikey bustled around the kitchen.  'She wasn't just cute; she was _absolutely incredible!'_   Check on the roasting garlic.  Stir the sauce.  Turn the meatballs.  'She knew the words to 'Punk Rock Girl' by the Dead Milkmen.'  Slice the baguettes long ways.  Mix a salad dressing.  'She could _dance._'  Pull out plates.  Pull out silverware.  Put the pasta on to boil.  Mikey sang quietly to himself,  "…Just you an' me/ Eating fudge banana swirl/ Just you an' me/ We'll travel 'round the worl'/ Just you an' me Punk Rock Girl…"

Leonardo, Donatello, and Splinter had said nothing throughout Raphael's recital.  Leonardo surprised everyone when he was the first to break the silence.  "Raphael, you were right.  Perry is a dead man."  

"Leo, he did get them out of there."  Raph felt the words slide out of his mouth before he could stop himself.  He'd spent so many years arguing with his brother that it was reflex now.  "He kept 'em safe for years -- until he disappeared for two weeks."  

Donatello spoke their thought aloud.  "The two weeks when he met us, and went into hiding from the foot clan."  

"Nothing is ever simple, my sons.  Though regardless of his motives, I would like to believe that Prof. Perry acted as best he could."

"But sensei—"  Leonardo was arguing with Splinter.  Donatello held his breath and waited for the world to end.  Raphael just sat back and stared.  "Why didn't he just TELL us about them.  We'd broken into to the TGRI building once already.  We could have easily freed them."

"Leo, he didn't know we'd ever breached TGRI security.  Not unless you bothered to tell him."  Don knew he shouldn't jump into this conversation, but he needed to speak up for the Professor.  Dr. Perry had treated him as an intellectual equal, and while it did not give the human _carte blanche_ to force abortions, it did entitle him to some token amount of friendship at least.

"I do not know his motives, Leonardo."  The aged rat offered no other explanations or excuses for the human's behavior.  With his sons' silence, he approached a new question.  "Once more I ask you, would you have them in our home?"

When the brothers descended from Splinter's upstairs room, they found the kitchen empty and Pipes sitting on a cushion in the living room, cradling Shima's head on her lap.  +"The others are outside at the grave."+   Splinter nodded as he followed Donatello and Leonardo out the door.  

Raphael hesitated in the doorway, "You comin', Pipes?"

+"No, I'll stay with her.  I've paid my respects already."+

A very subdued group of turtles filed into the house from the cold February dark.  "I'll start up another fire."  Leonardo was already laying a good base in the fireplace.  It was only then that he heard a croaking, coughing noise behind him.

+"Sisters!  Shhh!  Hush, now!  Cabbage!  Sterling!  Come quick!"+

Shima's eyes had opened.


	27. GENKI DESU

Hanami – Chapter 27

            'My children.  All of them awake and healthy.'  Splinter watched three of his daughters all trying to talk to and touch and comfort the one wrapped in blankets in their midst.  

Shima was back from the dead.  They doted on her, forcing water and plain buttered noodles down her throat.  They regaled her with stories of everything that had happened to them since they'd been sedated.  They kept interrupting each other and hugging one another.  They refused to eat anything themselves; they were too excited.  They called her 'FourSee,' 'Shima,' and '_Oneechan _big sister' interchangeably.  

            Splinter had been surprised to hear Shima speaking to her sisters in Japanese, and more surprised to hear them respond.  Cabbage kept checking her sister's pulse and asking, "_Ikaga desu ka? _How do you feel?" so many times that Shima stopped answering.  Instead, Pipes and Sterling chorused for her, +"_GENKI DESU!!_I'm fine!!"+  

            His sons were alternately eating and staring.  They knew to give the girls time to be together, but anyone would have been hard pressed to leave the living room in that first hour.  The tension that sat at the backs of the sisters' eyes had dissolved.  Their laughter seemed to bubble up freely, and the edges were disappearing from their manners.

            After a bit, Cabbage fell asleep stretched along the floor beside her sister with her head on Shima's mattress.  Shima quietly tracing the stripes on her sister's head, watched her dream.  Sterling dozed in the crook of Shima's other arm.  Pipes had her back braced against the sofa so she could act as a living pillow for her beloved Oneechan.  Leonardo came out of the kitchen with some cups of hot tea.  He first offered one to his sensei, but the second he brought to Shima.  Pipes smiled drowsily as he knelt down and handed the cup to her sister.  She mumbled +"Leonardo, _Shinshi desu ne_? Leonardo, You're a gentleman, aren't you?"+

            Shima chuckled quietly, speaking almost under her breath, "Leonardo, _ShinTAI desu ne_? Leonardo, You're the image of a god, aren't you?"  She nearly spilled her tea when Splinter burst out laughing.  Cabbage, Sterling and Pipes jolted awake.  His other three sons came running. 

Mikey was grinning madly.  His sensei was still laughing, his brother was blushing, and Shima was so dark green with embarrassment, she could have been used for camouflage.   "Well…?  What's the joke?"

Leonardo looked a bit panicked, "I don't know enough Japanese!"

Splinter shook his head, "She made a funny!" 

After the outburst, Donnie, Raph, and Mike convinced the three sleepy sisters to come into the kitchen and eat something.  They protested of course, but Mike wouldn't hear it.  "Nope.  No way.  Dudettes, I am not listening.  Your sister ain't goin' anywhere.  You guys have spent enough time not eatin.'  Now you don't need to stuff yourselves right before bed, but I'm not gonna let you skip a meal."

            Sterling yawned and saluted, "Dah. Mien Fuhrer."

            "Aw, quite bein' a smart-ass."  Raph gave her shell a gentle but firm push towards the kitchen.

             "Heil – whoops!  Watch where you're shovin'!"

            Raphael jerked his hand back from the top of her shell just in time to dodge a swat from Donnie.  Pipes glared at her sister, +"That wasn't nice or fair, Sterling."+

Shima sat studying her hands.  "_Nihongoga wakarimas, ne_? You understand Japanese, huh?"

            Splinter chuckled, "_Hai."_

            Leonardo mumbled, "_Sukoshi._  A little."

            Splinter took pity on his son.  "Let us speak in English.  I would not want any misunderstandings.  Shima, how is it that you and your sisters speak Japanese?"

            She was plainly expecting to have to explain her joke from earlier, and sighed with relief before she answered Splinter's question.  "We had no privacy.  There were cameras mounted in our room, audio devices constantly recording, and one-way mirrors on most of our walls.  When the humans insisted that I learn as many foreign languages as possible, I chose one that I'd never heard spoken around the lab and taught my sisters."  Shima smiled, "It was better than our own secret code."

            Pipes, Sterling and Cabbage piled back into the living room.  Cabbage and Sterling pulled another mattress up next to Shima's.  "One, Two, Three! – Ha! Rock breaks scissors.  I get to sleep closer to Oneechan."  Cabbage was all dimples as she laid down nearest her sister. 

            "Fine, but I get the pillow."

            "Hey! Wait a minute!"

            +"Oh hush!  How old are you two?  Here Cabbage, take this pillow."+  Pipes laid down on Shima's other side.  By the time the brothers had finished cleaning up the dinner dishes, all four of them were asleep.

            "All four of them on just two mattresses?"

            "Well Mikey, none of them have your fat ass."

            Raphael woke in the middle of the night to the sound of quiet tears again.  He heard someone else stir.  +"Hush Oneechan.  It'll be ok.  We're all here and together."+

            "No.  Not all; they're gone."

            Raphael tried desperately not to listen, but his brothers' light snores did nothing to mask what should have been a private conversation.  He resolved not to eavesdrop, but even that fell away as Pipes' lullaby caught him and Shima and carried them both to peaceful sleep.

            +"Baby mine don't you cry

            Baby mine dry your eyes

            Rest your head close to my heart

            Never to part

            Baby of mine

            Little one when you play

            Don't you mind what they say

            Let those eyes sparkle and shine

            Never a tear

            Baby of mine

            If they knew

            Sweet little you

            They'd end up

            Loving you too

            All those same people who scold you

            What they'd give just for the right to hold you

From your head down to your toes

            You're not much, goodness knows

            But you are so precious to me

            Sweet as can be.

            Angel of mine

            Baby of mine

            Sister of mine"+

The above song is an honest to goodness lullaby…."Baby Mine."  So god-only-knows who wrote it and who I'm supposed to credit.  But it ain't mine.  If you've never heard it, I recommend you pick up the rendition that Alison Krauss does, failing that, there's always the sappy Disney version from DUMBO – neither ms. Krauss nor DUMBO are mine either.


	28. Adoption

Hanami – Chapter 28

            "Oh, god!  I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to wake you!"  Mikey whispered frantically.  Raph grabbed the tails of his facemask and dragged his brother out of the living room.

            "Way to go, Mr. Ninja."  Raph leaned back into the room, "Go back to sleep."

            Shima blinked.  'What if I'm not sleepy any more, huh?'  She shook her head; that was not how he meant it and she knew it.  She sat up and stretched.  She'd been asleep for god-knows how long.  The last thing she needed was more of it.  As she took in her surroundings, a quiet voice spoke behind her.

            "You no doubt feel well-rested my child.  Feel free to explore the house and to eat anything you like from the kitchen."  Splinter nodded toward the yard.  "If you need anything, my sons and I will be outside at morning practice."

            "Thank you."  Shima untangled herself from her blankets and her sisters.  None of them stirred.  She was surprised; usually Sterling was the only one to sleep so deeply.  'Oh well,' she smiled, 'it looks like I have the whole house to myself.  I've read about enough houses; it should be fun to finally explore one.'

            Her legs were stiff and uncooperative, but she pushed herself up the stairs anyways.  She paused outside of what looked to be a bedroom.  After some initial confusion, she realized that all the mattresses were downstairs on the floor.  'That explains the freaky-looking beds.'  She toured the upstairs, acutely aware of things she'd never seen in the lab: glass doorknobs, a claw-foot bathtub, a linen closet with cedar flooring and shelves, and clothes closets.  'I feel pretty silly.  My sisters would never let me live it down, but I've read too much _Frances Hodgson Burnett,_ _Thomas Harding_, and even _William Faulkner_, not to have daydreamed about walking around a real house.'  So, even though she knew it was childish, she explored every inch of the upstairs, tried on the human shoes in the bottoms of the closets, turned every doorknob, and sniffed at every lacy sachet in all the drawers she opened.  The entire time she felt just like 'Hunca Munca' or 'Tom Thumb' from _Beautrix Potter's_ "Tale of Two Bad Mice."  'I'm being very careful to put things back.  It's not like I'm beating up defenseless plaster hams or smashing plates.'  She smiled at the thought.

The one thing that captured her eye was the trapdoor in the hallway ceiling.  It had a porcelain knob on a string, hanging just barely within her reach.  'An attic! Probably full of human stuff!  Well, since no one has come back just yet, and it sounds like my sisters are still asleep… what the hey.'

+"I'm awake."+  Pipes opened her eyes just in time to watch a suddenly empty-handed Cabbage slip an ice cube into her mouth.   +"You hate me don't you?"+

"A girl's gotta make her own fun."  Cabbage nodded towards the still unconscious form of Sterling.  "With two of us, we could roll her off that mattress easy."

"Or.  You could just let the poor thing sleep until you've made some coffee."  Pipes and Cabbage both turned to face the stairwell.  Shima was coated in dust.  She had an old cloth-bound book under her arm.  She noticed their stares and tried to dust herself off.  Eventually she gave up and just brought the book over.  "I was crawling around in the attic this morning.  Look what I found!"

Cabbage mumbled, "Asbestos?"  Her attention had already wandered from the book.  The guys were coming back inside.

"No! Well, maybe, but this book is full of patterns!"

+"Patterns?"+

"Yes, for women's clothing.  I was looking through it, and I can already see ways to adapt the designs so that…"

"Hold that thought."  Cabbage jumped up and called to her sister, "Come on Pipes; it's time to wake the terminally-drowsy-one."  Pipes and Cabbage raised one half of the mattress and rolled Sterling off onto the floor.  

"Uf!"  Sterling sat up slowly, rubbing her shoulder.  "I hate you guys."

Splinter approached Shima, "What have you found, child?"  She held out the book she'd been so excited about.  "Sewing patterns?"

She nodded, "I thought I could adapt some of them.  It's cold here, and I found all kinds of cloth up in the attic.  I even found a sewing machine.  I don't know if it works, but I'm pretty good with a needle and thread even if it doesn't…"

"A sewing machine, huh?"  Sterling sat down next to her sister.  Donnie brought over a coffee mug for her and settled down across from her with one of his own. "Thanks."  Sterling turned to Shima, "If you have projects you'd like to use it for, I'd love to help you tinker with it.  I bet I can get that sewing machine running in tip-top shape."  Sterling stood and gave Shima a hand up.  "That is if that's ok, Splinter."  He nodded, but raised his hand.  

"You shall eat breakfast first, though.  My sons and I would discuss something with you and your sisters."

The toasty kitchen felt great after working out in the cold.  Raphael started pulling out silverware and bowls.  Mike stirred up the oatmeal, while Leonardo sliced some apples.  "There's honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon on the table!"  He filled the bowls and passed them round.  Mike served himself last and leaned against counter.  Nine made the kitchen a tight space.  

Splinter spoke, "My sons and I have been most honored to meet each of you.  Whatever the reasoning that compelled him, we owe Prof. Perry a great deal."  Both Raphael and Leonardo opened their mouths as if to speak, but shut them quickly when Splinter raised his head.  He continued, "You were sent to us so that I might adopt you four into my family.  However, there are far too many who would be effected were I to make such a decision lightly."  

"I have spoken with my sons; they agree with me.  You are welcome to join our family."  Heads nodded all around the kitchen. "Though they also agree with me in that it is your choice.  You were free to make your own decisions the moment we opened your crates.  Even if you should choose to live as my daughters, that will not be taken from you."

"We do not live here on this farm.  We are guests just as you are.  If you choose to live with us, you will live underground, beneath a large city.  No human must ever find us.  This is one of many reasons I have trained my sons from their youth in the arts of ninjitsu.  They are stealthy and strong."  Donnie and Mike exchanged high threes.  Splinter shook his head.  "I only fear for them when they are over-confident.  Since you lack such training, you would be wise to remain below." 

"We are not wealthy.  Nine mouths maybe prove a difficulty.  Regardless, what we have would also be yours."

"Finally, I do not wish you to feel trapped into any decision.  If, for any reason, you are unable to live under our roof, we will help you without hesitation to set up your own home elsewhere."

Mikey grabbed Cabbage's hand, "So will you live with us? Huh?"

Smiling, Cabbage looked to her sisters.  Pipes nodded immediately; Shima shortly thereafter.  Sterling bit her lower jaw as eight pairs of eyes watched for her reaction.  "I'd like that very much, but are YOU sure, Cabbage?"

Mikey turned to Cabbage, wondering what would make her unsure.  Pipes leaned back in her chair.  Her lips moved but Cabbage's voice fell out, "Boys are yucky.  They smell bad."

Cabbage popped out of her seat, waving her arms, "I WAS TWELVE when I said that!  And the guys from the lab DID smell bad!"  She sat back down with her arms crossed over her chest. "Stupid sisters."

Shima grinned, "We would be honored to be your daughters."


	29. Jukebox.

Hanami – Chapter 29

            Out on the back porch, the light streamed in and illuminated Pipes' figure.  She was working on something in her lap.  Mike had been kicking around the house, looking for Cabbage when the sound of a harmonica drew him around to the back porch.  The music was definitely coming from the back porch.  None of the windows were open.  He couldn't see any radio.  With her hands over her lap, it wasn't Pipes playing the thing.  'What the hell?'

            Mike hopped up onto the edge of the porch with his feet hanging over the side.  He scanned the yard.  Nothing.  He turned to Pipes, "Do you hear that?  Sounds like a harmonica.  Where the heck is it coming from?"

            The harmonica stopped mid-'Whaa.'  Pipes looked up at him, blushing slightly.  +"Sorry.  Just singing to myself.  Didn't expect an audience."+  His blank stare prompted her to fill the silence +"Yoko Kanno's "Diggin' My Potato."+  She opened her mouth and let out a few chords.  She added a low, slow beat somehow, her throat pulsing gently.  "Whaa-wa-wa-wah wah-ba-hah…"

            Mike's blank expression was slowly replaced by a toothy grin of awe.  "Whoa…"  He shook his head, "Raph never said you could do THAT."

            Pipes went back to work on the object in her hands.  +"I never bothered to submit a resume, I just told him I was a good mimic."+

            Mikey scrambled up onto the porch next to her.  "What else can you do?  If you had a real harmonica, could you play that?  Would you teach me how?  Whatcha workin' on?"

            Pipes answered, "Mimic.  Yes.  Sure.  This."  She held out a small statue.  "It's fragile now, be careful."  She laid a miniature Splinter in his hands.  The body was still rough, but the way the figurine stood and the detail in its face astonished Mike.  

            "How…?"  Splinter stood with his hands resting lightly on his walking stick; his tail curled around his feet.  His kimono hung naturally and even bunched a bit at his belt.  His one ear was so thin, the morning light shown through it.  His face and neck were marked all over with small lines, giving the impression of fur.  "What's it made of?"

            Pipes smiled as she took it back.  +"A bar of soap.  And I borrowed one of the paring knives from the kitchen.  It won't stand up to much handling, but it'll do for a rough draft."+  She tilted her head, +"You're more than welcome to keep me company, but you'll have to move out of my light, ok?"+

            "Yeah.  Sure."  Mike watched her carve for another ten minutes before he moved on to find Cabbage.  As he rounded the porch, he heard a piano start up quietly.  

            Shima came out onto the back porch and sat down next to her sister.  "I love it when you sing Chopin."  She had bundled herself in one of the guy's coats.  She set down a pen and some paper as well as the book of patterns.  Pipes smiled, but moved smoothly into a restrained guitar piece.  Shima looked up, "Gypsy Kings?  Love and Liberty?"  Pipes nodded and returned to carving.  The two of them worked peacefully on the back porch until Leonardo called them in for lunch.   

            Cabbage watched Mike lap the house again.  'Wonder if I should give a shout out and find out what he's looking for?'  She'd found the perfect perch in an apple tree.  The branches were bare and about matched the color of her shell.  A fork in a large branch made the perfect seat.  The sky was high and blue and the slow-moving wispy clouds made her feel lazy.  'This is wonderful.  I don't think I've ever felt so peaceful.  No white walls, no cages, no bosses, no injection schedules, no surgeries… damn, I could get used to this!'

            "There you are, babe!"

            Cabbage blinked.  He was right beneath her.  No, in the heartbeat it took her to register that, he'd moved.  He was in the tree with her.  " 'Lo. "  She stretched.  "So if you guys don't actually live in this paradise, who's guests are we?"

            "This whole farm belongs to a really bodacious chica called April.  She's a human, but since she's so cool, we've declared her an honorary turtle."

            "I thought you stealthy ninja-types weren't allowed to let humans see you, let alone rent winter villas from them."

            Mike smiled, "That's a long story dudette: one I'd like to tell without having branches up my shell.  Let's go on down to the porch swing, ok?" 

            Sterling was pissed.  She stormed out of the house, silently seething.  Building her anger, she stalked out into the yard.  'What the HELL is his problem?!  He was there when I told Shima I'd fix the machine.  I'm not incompetent.  I wouldn't have even minded working on it with him!  But he didn't ask!  He just had it in pieces.  "Don't touch that, oh and hand me a screw-driver, Philips-head, the star-shaped one."  How condescending can you get?!'

 The fact that Donatello hadn't done any of it on purpose some how made it worse.  'He _assumes_ I've got my head up my ass… that I bit off more than I could chew and some how he was gonna rush in and fix everything for me…He didn't even think I knew the names of the tools!  "Pass me the 5/8" socket wrench.  That's the one that -- oh, nevermind, I've got it."  Of all the arrogant -- ' Sterling stopped short.  She counted to ten, took a deep breath and thought real hard about the sewing machine project.  "Nope.  He's just an asshole."

            "Who's an asshole?"  Raphael's voice caught her by surprise; she jumped.  Then she wheeled on him.  "Don't sneak up on me like that!  Your brother!  Donatello!"

            "Donnie?"  Raph wrinkled his forehead,  "You sure?  The quiet guy?  With the purple mask?"

            "Yes!"  Sterling's voice went flat.  "Yes.  I know what I'm talking about.  I am not a child.  Please quit humoring me and do NOT patronize me."  She sighed angrily.  "Look, I'm not fit company.  Are there any boundaries to this place?  I'd like to just get away from EVERYBODY right now."

            Raphael nodded slowly.  "Follow me.  There's a mile loop that's stays within the property.  We use the trail for our workouts."  He turned and led her behind the barn to a small clearing with a path that stretched beneath the trees.  "If you're not back in an hour, I'm coming after you."  With that he spun on his heel and left her.


	30. An Exchange of Vows.

Hanami – Chapter 30

            "Ok, so I overreacted."  Sterling sat, leaned up against a stump, a few paces off the trail.  "At least I didn't make a scene INSIDE the house.  Raph probably thinks I'm mental, but hell, I haven't spoiled the surprise for the rest of them, yet."  She picked up a stick and threw it end over, trying to hit the tree opposite her seat.  

            "It was not cool what he did, but I should've just said something."  She grimaced and picked up another stick.  "No, that's not right.  I would have said something hurtful.  I was right to get out of there before I lost it."  The second stick missed its mark.  "I was just so worried about Shima, and I wanted to fix something for her.  Help her somehow.  Then I come into the kitchen, and not only is he in my place, but he won't let me help."

She snarled, "Help?!  Who the fuck said I wanted to help?  I wanted – wanted to just fucking FIX the damn thing."  She whirled another stick at the tree.  This one hit.  "Now I'm sitting, less than useless, in the middle of a forest talking to myself so that I don't upset anybody else…"

            "Talking to yourself isn't the problem.  It's when you answer yourself that you're in trouble."  She smiled at her own joke, and lobbed another stick at the offending tree. 

            Raphael stepped out from behind the target tree, just in time to duck as the throw went wide.  "Christ!"  He looked off into the bracken where the stick had landed.  "We gotta work on that aim."

            Sterling could feel the small amount of calm she'd managed to gather draining away.  "What?  Has it been an hour?" 

            'Damn, those eyes could put a hole through a brick wall.'  "Yeah.  It has.  You're worrying folks.  Time to go back.  Come on now, or I carry you."  He gestured tersely down the path.

            She got up slowly and dusted herself off.  'She's taking her time.  She's pushing to see if I meant it.'   She stood up straight, squared her shoulders and headed down the path.  She looked over his head the entire time.  "Gah!  What the hell is wrong with you!?"  She stopped dead in her tracks.  

            "Your brother is genius-in-residence.  Since he doesn't want to share his Mr. Fix-It-Americana title with anyone, let alone some stupid girl, _maybe_ this girl feels pretty damn useless."

            'Goddammit Raph, she's gonna cry and then you're gonna have a weepy mess on your hands…' That thought died as quickly as it had been born.  She wasn't crying.  She was glaring. 

            "I'm not mad at him anymore.  I'm just angry.  I came out here to get away before I fucked things up royally and said shit I didn't mean."  She took a firm step towards him.  "Though you may have meant well, I'm NOT READY TO GO BACK."

            Raph stepped forward, too.  He'd never gotten anywhere with his brothers by backing off. "Yeah well, maybe I didn't mean well.  Did you think of that, Queen of the Harpies?  Maybe what's best for your sisters is seeing _their_ sister safe and sound at home, eating lunch, like a normal turtle and not some spiteful, jealous, whiny bitch!"

            "Huh, what happened to 'you are free to make your own decisions?'  I thought Splinter said you guys agreed with him.  Has he gone back on his word already?!"

            ~*CRACK*~

            Sterling blinked up at him from the ground.  Her eyes were wide with shock.  She could taste blood in her mouth.  Her voice sounded like it was coming from a mile away.  "I guess I had that coming, huh?"

            "No, no, no."  Raphael was trying to wipe away the blood from the corner of her beak.  She pushed him back and rose unsteadily to her feet.

            "What? That's not the first time I've been hit."  She dropped her head to her chest, "Gomen nasai. _I apologize._"  She patted her cheek, and put a finger in her mouth.  "None of my teeth are loose.  It's alright." Sterling felt his hesitation, and filled the silence.  "I shouldn't have been yelling.  I'm terrible about my temper.  I didn't mean to be so rude."  She glanced at Raphael.  He was staring at her.  "Are you ok?"

            "That's my line," he mumbled.  In a stronger voice he tried to continue.  "I just hit you.  Hard.  You fell over.  You blacked out.  Your beak is still bleeding.  There's gonna be a bruise, and YOU'RE apologizing to ME?"  

            Sterling blinked at him.  Her eyes creased with worry.  "I was in the wrong.  I was being unreasonable.  You were thinking of my sisters, and acting as my brother.  Please.  I'm sorry."

            At the mention of the word 'brother,' Raphael cringed.  "This is all fucked up.  I should never have raised a hand to you.  I mean brothers can yell at their sisters, but they NEVER hurt them.  I should be the one to apologize!"

            "And if the things you said hurt worse than being hit?  What then?  Am I allowed to hit you back?  Can sisters hit their brothers?  Or should only brothers fight in anger?"  She took his hand, and started to walk back toward the house.  "I've seen you and Leonardo _spar, _and neither one of you holds back.  I understood that that meant that you respected one another as equals and fighters."

            Raphael grappled with her words.  "But you're not a fighter, how can you defend yourself?"  He shook his head, and tried to pull his hand away.

            She refused to let go.  He could either hurt her again, or put up with it.  She smiled quietly, "By using sharper words next time."  She shook her head, "No, that won't do, will it?"   She stopped, forcing him to stop with her.  "How's this?  I can promise to be respectful of my father, my brothers, and my sisters:  their honor, their worries, and their safety.  In return, you can promise to be respectful of the freedom that our father promised my sisters and I."

            Raphael nodded.  "Yeah, but one more thing –" Sterling tilted her head, waiting. "I swear I will never raise a hand to you or your sisters again."

            She spat some blood on the path.  "Then it's a promise."


	31. Goosebumps

Hanami – Chapter 31

            'I should never have hit her.  I should never have yelled at her.  I should never have come out from behind that tree.'  Raphael had gotten his hand back from her, but now he was the one glowering.  'Fucking stupid bitch.  Pissing me off.  Saying that shit about Master Splinter.  I should never have hit her, though.  God dammit.'

            "You know, I've already apologized several times for mouthing off like that."  Sterling glanced over her shoulder.  "I don't know what else you want."  Her jaw was beginning to feel stiff, but she kept talking anyways.  

"Who are you mad at anyways?  I told you I'm fine.  It's not like you broke my cheek bone or knocked out my teeth or anything like that."  She shrugged, "A little pain brought me back from whatever bitch-kick I was on."  She looked back again.  Her words didn't seem to be helping.  She switched tactics. 

            "Next time I get mad, you're gonna have a helluva time dealing with me, though." He had no way to see the sly smile that crossed her features, but he heard the challenge in her voice. He looked up, and she caught his eyes.  She turned and doubled back.  She brought her face down towards his.  There were mere inches between their beaks.  "I believe you.  You swore it wouldn't happen again.  That means you're gonna have to find another way to Shut. Me. Up."  She leaned in closer, her mouth opened slightly.  He could feel her warm breath on his cheek.  His mouth had opened as well, though more from shock than anything else.

            'Oh god, she's not gonna…'  She'd tilted her head, angling so that their beaks wouldn't bump.  Raphael froze, anticipation catching up to him.  Sterling waited until the last moment before she shut her beak with a loud SNAP of teeth and pulled back. 

            "Ninja, heh." She snorted.  His surprise gave her a good-sized head start as she screamed out over her shoulder, "Race you home!"

            "You FUCKING BITCH!" Raphael tore up the path after her.

            Leonardo sat beside the tiny grave, lost in his thoughts.  Shima was adjusting well, she hadn't left Don's side since he started work on that sewing machine.  'I stayed long enough for lunch, but I just couldn't last.  I might have drowned in there.'  The kitchen had been awash with literary discussion.  

"Orwell was right, you know."  Shima was pinning together some pieces of fabric that she'd already chalked and cut.  "Human, hell, any sentient nature, is completely malleable."

            Donnie looked up from the spread of sewing machine bits across the table from her.  He shook his head.  "Don't you believe that there is a such a thing as '_true identity?'_  I mean, even Dostoyevsky and Camus granted that much.  There have to be some parts of the psyche that cannot be manipulated.  How else can you claim to have a soul.?"

            "Conrad didn't."  She shot back.  "Look at what happened to my sisters and I.  We _were_ Orwell's 'proletariat'.  We worked and never really looked for anything better, because we didn't know that we were missing anything."  She grabbed a few more pins from the pincushion.  "Hell, when ever we recognized that somehow things were wrong, we'd rationalize it: the humans were doing it for our benefit, we were beneath human notice, etc.  Then we'd forget that we rationalized anything, so we didn't have to admit that anything was wrong. It was classic _doublethink._  I still catch myself wondering if I'm just 'Winston' somewhere, bound to wake up from all this eventually and hate myself for betraying the humans that treat me so much better than I deserve."

            Donatello shook his head, looking up at her he grinned, "_Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St. Clement's…"_

_            "I owe you three farthings..."  _She dissolved into nervous laughter.  "Shut up, Donny."  This time her laughter was real.

            Leonardo looked upwards into the branches of the trees.  'Geez.  Who'da thunk it'd be _Donnie?_  First Sterling, now Shima.'  He smiled at his own frustrated thoughts.  'I thought Raphael and Mikey were supposed to be the lady-killers.'

            He startled as "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" rolled across the landscape.  Shaking his head, he smirked, "Well, maybe MIKEY anyways."

            'I'm flying!  I've never run so fast in my life!'  Sterling stretched out her long legs and cornered around the barn.  He was just behind her and closing fast.  She grinned, he would catch her, but she was making him work for it.  She was almost to the porch, when she swerved left and ran full-tilt down the side of the house.  She could feel his fingers trying to close on her shell, but there was nothing there to give purchase.  The apple trees: dead ahead.  She could feel her lungs beginning to burn, but her legs could have carried her forever.  She pulled a hard right, hoping to snag Raphael on the branches.  'SHIT! There's Leo!'  She hurdled him, startling him from his meditations.  "Hi Leo!  Bye Leo!"  She blurted as she made for the other side of the house.  

            'God dammit, she was fast!  But there's no way I can't catch her!'  "SHIT! Leo! What the fuck?!"  Raphael had too much momentum and to much adrenaline to give up now.  He leapt over his wide-eyed brother, and tearing clods of turf from the lawn, he cornered far more tightly than Sterling had.  'Gotcha now!'

            Around the side of the house, 'There's her shell!'  "Gotcha!"  Raphael made a flying tackle, spinning her as they fell so that her shell took the impact.  He'd pinned her arms at either side of her head.  The two of them panting, trying desperately to catch their breath.  Suddenly very aware of there position, Raphael watched in fascination as her pulse hammered in her throat.  Her soft light-yellow stripes outlined the flow of her life-blood down the naked skin of her throat, down towards her collarbones, and toward the rounded tops of her plastron.  He could feel her warmth all down the length of him; her legs just seemed to go on forever.  But none of that held his mind like her eyes: gray like ocean mist.

            She smiled up at him; she had her breath back.  She was gonna talk and that was probably a bad idea.  He shut her up the best way he knew how.  Leaning in quickly, he nuzzled the side of her neck, placing his beak with care.  He didn't want to hurt her.  He opened his mouth and moisted a spot on her neck with his tongue.  

Sterling went completely still.  She had no idea what Raphael was up to, but it was starting to feel nice.  She relaxed as he nuzzled her neck again.  She screamed when he blew a particularly messy "raspberry" on the side of her neck.  He was up and into the house before she finished.  "YOU FUCKING JIZZ-MOP!  Eeewww!  Gross!"  

OK for everyone wondering if the literary stuff was based on anything in particular: yes.  Things that are not mine.  George Orwell's 1984: very scary, very good; I recommend you read it if you haven't.  This is where the reference to 'Winston,' 'doublethink,' and the 'Oranges and Lemons' rhyme comes from.  Fyodor Dostoyevksy's Crime and Punishment:  excellent for a work of Russian literature.  Russia's seen more than it's fair share of shit, therefore Russian Lit. tends to be pretty dark and sometimes plot-less.  (That would be the point the authors were struggling to make: life is pointless, but you live it anyways, god only knows why).  But I digress, Crime and Punishment is a good book; read it.  Camus' The Stranger: I could take it or leave it, but it does an excellent job of portraying the whole existentialist movement.  (I live because I like to live and for no other reason.)  Finally Conrad's Heart of Darkness: a painfully long metaphor about how everyone's evil at heart and that you can dress humanity up, but don't try to take it to dinner or you'll only embarrass yourself and everyone else at the restaurant.

Oh, and for those of you without brothers or sisters or parents or friends or physical contact:

a RASPBERRY:  when you make a farting noise against someone's skin.  there can be quite a lot of spittle involved if done (im)properly. ;) 


	32. Q and A.

Hanami – Chapter 32

            "Okay, your turn… um, what's the worst joke you've ever played on your brothers?"

            Mike's face split in two, toothy grin bright white against his dark olive skin.  "Whoa.  That's a tough-ie."  He tapped his chin and pretended to count out various crimes on his fingers.  "Hmm.  There was the time I – No wait, the time LEO – No, no –"  

            Cabbage stared at him from the other end of the porch swing.  "You were a holy terror, weren't you?"

            "Hey!  I haven't even given you details!"

            She rolled her eyes, "Then spill it already!"

            "Okay, Okay!"  Mikey leaned forward, "It all started when Raph left an open container of ice cream on the desk in the room that we used to share.  See, for whatever reason, he just up and forgot it was in the room.  So I come in and there's ice cream oobleck melted everywhere.  He's disappeared off the face of the planet; he does that at the most annoying times.  I couldn't just LEAVE it, so I had to clean up the desk and the papers under the container and where it dripped all over the floor.  He comes home at, like, 4 in the morning, and wakes me up cause the floor's still a little sticky and he steps in it.  He's bitchin' me out for the ice cream, then suddenly he's pissed about EVERYTHING… shit that happened before I was born, practically.  But I had to hear it all because we're sharing a room and I couldn't sleep through one of his hissy-fits."

            "So what'd you do to him?"  Cabbage's grin mirrored his own.

            "You know what epoxy is, don't ya?"  She nodded, leaning forward.  Mike looked over his shoulder and all around to check and see if anyone was listening.  "I got a friend to buy some pasties from a raunchy sex toy shop." 

 Her forehead creased.  "Uh, pasties… like, little glue-on nipple covers," he hesitated, "Um… sparkly, with tassels."  She nodded her head slowly as she leaned back; he could feel his face heating up.  'Keep goin.'  Don't loose momentum.  Hell, Mike, you've already explained "pasties" to her; things can't get too much more awkward.'

            "Anyways, I waited 'til later in the week, so that Raph would let his guard down.  And one night, Raph was a-snorin' away – he can make enough noise to raise the dead, if he's tired enough.  And I borrowed Donnie's epoxy, and I stuck the pasties onto Raph's chest."  Cabbage's eyes were the size of plates. 

            "How is it that he let you live?!"  She whooped between gasps for air.

            Mikey grinned kinda sheepishly, "He almost didn't.  I had to hang out at our friend April's apartment until Donnie found a solvent."  Suddenly the unrepentant half-moon of teeth was back.  "But it was worth it.  He never wakes up right away.  So he staggers into the dojo, all bleary and out of it. Little golden sequin stars with little gold tassels swinging back and forth.  Doesn't want to talk to anybody.  Isn't listening to anybody.  Finally notices that we're all staring at him when Splinter comes in from his morning meditations and busts up laughing."  

Mike heaved a happy sigh.  "Yeah, THEN he tried to break my arm."  Pausing thoughtfully, Mike added, "It wasn't until Donnie explained the strength of epoxy to him that he tried to rip my throat out."  

Mike winked at her.  "Brothers are fun."

She'd finally caught her breath, and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.  Mike had been waiting for his turn.  "Ok, now I get to ask one."  Cabbage nodded.  

"Have you seen Sterling?"  

Mike blinked.  "What?"

            Leonardo looked at them from the front door.  "She never came in for lunch.  I saw Raphael chasing her this afternoon, but now he says he has no idea where she is.  It's getting dark.  Pipes was out looking for carving wood, and she says she hasn't seen Sterling either."

            Cabbage looked to Mike, "If you're sure she's not in the house, then we'll take a quick walk around, see if we can find her."  He nodded.  Leo went back inside.

            Cabbage stood and stretched.  "She likes to be alone sometimes.  She's got a bit of a temper, so rather than upset everyone in our 'apartment,' she'd work insane hours in her workshop."  Cabbage jumped the front stairs.  "I bet she's going crazy without anything to do out here."

            Earlier that afternoon, Sterling took stock of her situation.  She was covered in mud.  Her cheek felt huge, and she was having some difficulty opening her jaw.  The last thing she wanted was to explain herself to a room full of family.  'Maybe if I wait a bit, I can get up to the shower without having to deal with the Spanish Inquisition.'  

            A quick scan around the farm told her that she had rather limited options.  'Could check out the barn.  whoo-hoo.  That'll kill all of three minutes.'  Since it was better than nothing, she headed on in, still wiping Raph spit from her neck.  'Asshole.' 

            She went in the side door, flipping on the ancient light switch.  Nothing happened.  She jiggled it.  Still nothing.  She checked out the light fixtures.  There were only a few of them, and they were just a bare bulb on a wire, but all but one had a good bulb in it.  She spied the workbench in the corner.  A germ of an idea hatched in her mind.  'IT'S a WIRING PROBLEM!'  The afternoon wasn't going to be dull after all.

            +"Well, we couldn't find her."+  Cabbage was starting to get worried.  Shima and Pipes had gone with Raphael to see if she was on the workout trail.  Leo, Mike, and Donnie were following the driveway up a bit to see if she'd decided to leave.  Raph's group had returned and reported no luck.  Splinter and Cabbage had been waiting.  +"She gets stubborn, but she's not stupid.  She wouldn't have tried to run away."+

            Shima looked at Cabbage, "So that leaves two options.  She's hurt or lost somewhere and can't get back.  Or, she's deliberately hiding somewhere."

            Raph shook his head.  "No, she promised."  Splinter looked at his son.  "She wanted to be alone earlier today and I tried to make her come back.  We had a fight, but I promised to respect her freedom, and she promised to consider her actions… well not to worry her family I guess."  He looked out the window.  "Hiding from us would definitely break her promise."

            Leo, Mike and Don were headed back to the house in silence.  The falling dark and the cold made searching difficult.  "Dudes, she's probably back at the house by now."  Mike kicked a rock into the ditch on the side of the road.  "You heard Raph, she didn't want to leave the workout trail this afternoon."

            Leonardo came to a full stop.  "Don, when did you fix the lights in the barn?"  He pointed to the usually dark structure to the left of the house.

            Donnie looked at his brothers, "I didn't."

_…American woman_

_Stay away from me_

_American woman, _

_Mama let me be_

_Don't want hanging _

_Around no more_

Don't want— 

            It was the radio's sudden silence that brought Sterling's attention to the doorway.  Leo, Mike and Don stood with their arms crossed across their chests.  'Uh, oh.  This does not look good.'  Sterling cut the gas to the flame of her welding rig.  She lifted her tinted goggles, and turned off the valves on the main tanks.  When she was sure they were closed she reopened the lines and bled out the remaining gas.  Wrapping the gas hoses loosely around the fuel tanks, she removed the heavy welder's gloves and turned to face her brothers.  "What's wrong?"  At least that had been the goal; it came out as, "Wuzz rrng?"  She blinked. 'Damn jaw.'  She hadn't tried to move it in hours, and it had swollen shut.  


	33. Family Fued

Hanami – Chapter 33

            +"Leonardo and the guys are back!  It looks like they've got her with them!"+  Pipes, Shima, and Cabbage threw open the back door and all but tackled their sister.  Pulling her into the kitchen, they bombarded her with questions.

            "Where have you been?"

            "Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

            +"You're filthy!  What happened to you?"+

            "Are you ok?"

            Sterling kept her head down and hugged her sisters back.  Raphael cleared his throat, "Well, where was she?"

            Donnie answered.  "We found her in the barn, playing with the welding equipment."

            On the word 'playing' Sterling's head snapped up.  She shot him a glare that would have stunned a full-grown yak at 50 yards.  "Oh.  My.  God."  Sterling turned to her sister.  Cabbage was reaching toward her face.  "What did you do to yourself?"  Sterling gently pushed her sister's hands away, only to find that her cheek was now the focus of eight pair of eyes.

            Splinter sighed heavily, and gestured for her to sit.  "Michelangelo, please, some tea."  He gathered his thoughts and almost smiled.  There was a time when he would have thought daughters would be easier to raise.  Setting tea in front of Master Splinter and Sterling, Mike settled back against the counter.

            Cabbage studied her sister quietly.  Most of Sterling was no longer green.  Her feet and legs were muddy.  Her shell was caked with dirt.  Soot coated her arms and face, except for the outline of clean around her eyes where she'd been wearing goggles.  The only evident bruising ran down the side of her face.  It was a beauty though: deep purple-black and puffy.  It showed less on her dark green skin, but on her light yellow striping it stood out like a lone cloud across the sun.   'It's hard to tell without getting closer, but that kind of swelling and discoloration takes time.  That must've happened earlier today, by a few hours at least.'  

            Splinter looked to his daughter.  "My child, please drink some tea and relax."  He sipped his to encourage her.  "We will let you have your say, but you have worried us all greatly."  Sterling stared at the table.

            'I don't think I can get the tea in my mouth, let alone "have my say."  She knew it looked like she was being stubborn, but she wasn't sure how to explain things without upsetting everyone even more.  Cabbage came to her rescue.

            A straw landed on the table between Sterling and Splinter.  "You can't open it, can you?"  Sterling grabbed the straw.  She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until the tea sat in front of her.  Cabbage continued the one-sided conversation.  "I don't know what you did to your jaw, but swelling like that takes time to form.  And since you can't even open it wide enough to sip tea, or make ugly faces at me, I'm gonna assume that the ligatures in your jaw joint have tightened up quite nicely.  Ordinarily, if you had come to me say in the first HOUR or so after it happened, I could have given you some hot and cold pack treatment.  It wouldn't have stopped the stiffening if the joint was fractured or broken, but for anything less than that you would have been fine.  Tender, but fine.  You would at least have been able to take some Tylenol or something."  Cabbage sighed, "NOW, hours too late, I get to poke at your puffy head and try to _guess_ how long you'll be eating through a straw."  Cabbage grabbed the empty teacup from her sister, refilled it with water and handed it back.  "You are so PIG-HEADED!"

            "Raphael?"  Raph nearly jumped out of his skin. 

            "Yeah Leo?"

            "I don't suppose you know what happened do you?"  

            "What's that supposed to mean?"  

            Splinter knew his son far better than he knew his daughter.  "Something is troubling you, my son.  Come sit with us."

            'Oh man.  I'm gonna catch it now.'  Raph dragged out a chair from the table and sat, staring up at the ceiling.  Splinter placed his hand on Raphael's, "Please.  She cannot speak for herself."

            At that, Sterling waved a frantic hand in the air and mimed writing, one hand as paper, her other hand as pen.  From the panic in her eyes, Raphael was certain she was gonna try and cover for him.  "It's ok.  I'll tell 'em."  She shook her head sadly.  

            Raphael focused on her eyes across the table.  "I hit her.  I lost my temper and I hit her."  She'd shut her eyes and cringed at the words.  Raphael looked up in the complete silence and felt the shocked stares of his family.  His brothers, looking like they didn't know him anymore, had yet to break the horrified tableau.  His sisters, however, were not shy.

            "YOU DID WHAT?!"  Cabbage had completely lost it.  Her eyes burned into his mind.  "YOU BROKE MY SISTER'S JAW?!"  She was shaking, "YOU HIT HER BECAUSE YOU LOST YOUR TEMPER?!  WHAT DID SHE DO TO DESERVE THAT?"  

            Imediately, Raphael shot back, "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!  She said she was fine!  That she'd been hit plenty before, that her teeth weren't even loose!  I didn't know how badly she was hurt!"

Pipes squinted at him.  +"Yeah.  She's always been mouthy, disobedient, and stubborn.  There's been plenty of times that a human's broken a few bones on her just to 'put her in her place.'  Was she 'out of line' Raphael?  Because no matter what the humans did to her, they always brought her back to her family!  YOU LEFT HER OUTSIDE AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING TO ANY OF US!"+

  Shima put a restraining hand on Pipes.  Very quietly, Shima addressed her new brother.  "What else did you do to her, Raphael?"  Coming from Shima, that question carried far too many unpleasant associations.     

            The color drained from Raphael's face, "You think I raped—"

            +"She is covered in mud.  You broke her jaw.  You didn't bring her back to the house.  Didn't bother to tell any one that anything was wrong.  You admitted you tackled her when we were out looking for her earlier.  She was too ashamed to come back inside.  All in all, it's a reasonable question."+

            "No!  I most certainly did not!"  Raphael looked across the table at Sterling.  She was shaking her head 'NO' emphatically.

            "WHY SHOULD WE TRUST YOU?!"  Cabbage pointed to Sterling, "She's clearly upset!  How do we know she isn't agreeing with you just to keep from getting hit AGAIN?"

            Sterling stood up.  She walked around the table.  She put her hands on Raphael's shoulders.  She made eye contact with each member of her family.  Then with a horrible popping noise, she parted her jaws, "…Accident…" and her world went black.


	34. What's underneath

Hanami – Chapter 34

            Raphael felt her hands tightening on his shoulders.  His stomach plummeted with the popping crack that prefaced her speech.  He spun out of his chair, knocking it out of his way, cradling her in his arms before Sterling could hit the floor.  

            She sagged across his lap, her mouth opened and bleeding freely again.  Clutching her body, he scanned the room, desperately clinging to his training, looking for something to fight.  Splinter's breath caught in his throat as the anger receded from Raphael's eyes, replaced by something entirely different but just as strong: fear.  Raphael, his proudest son, uttered the one word he'd not spoken since childhood.

            "…Help…"

            Cabbage unwound all at once.  She had been tensed with rage and fear, but at the bone-snapping crack of her sister's jaw all of her emotions fled.  She was a doctor first and foremost.  This was her sister.  She would deal with her new brother in time, but now, "…Help…" 

            "Raphael, take her to the living room, sit her up slightly on a mattress.  Keep her head elevated.  Get some soap and water and wash off the wounded area thoroughly.  Michelangelo, boil some water.  I need the following items sterilized: paring knife, needle, tweezers, scissors, probe – a metal chopstick will do – fishing line and the tray to carry them into the living room.  Donatello, I need you to get gauze, medical tape, towels, q-tips, and a strong flashlight.  Pipes, Leo, you two are going to hold pressure points."  Cabbage looked up at Shima.  She was not going to be very helpful right now.  "Master Splinter, please take Shima away from this."  

He nodded and took her shaking hand, "Tell me child have you ever heard the stories of the _kitsune_ Japanese foxes… shape-shifters?   She followed him hesitantly out of the room.

Cabbage washed her hands up to her elbows and led Leo and Pipes into the living room.  She knelt by her sister's head, and addressed the group around her.  "I do not know the exact extent of the original injury.  I do know that, regardless of its extremity, it went untreated and Sterling's body reacted in the most biologically efficient way:  namely, her body assumed the worse and tightened into a natural cast, as it were, around the damaged area.  In forcing her mouth open, she cracked that 'natural cast' and caused herself to black out from pain."

Cabbage drew a deep breath.  "Unfortunately, that 'cast' was made up of her jaw muscles, and her jaw's tendons (attaching the muscles to the bones.)  Right now, beyond the damage done by impact, the bruising and the fracture, Sterling has ripped the muscle tissue around the joint.  If left to heal by itself, there are two possibilities.  First, she only ripped muscle, and by the time her jaw bone knits, she'll be just fine.  Second, and most likely, she tore tendon, either along its length or where it joins the muscle.  Should the second be the case, the tendon must be repaired surgically if she is to regain full use of her jaw."

Mike brought in the implements.  "Thanks.  Now, since we lack any kind of meaningful anesthetic, I want to perform this surgery quickly before she regains consciousness.  Pipes and Leo, you will keep full pressure on the points I show you.  We do not have the ability to deaden nerve endings, but we can keep her still."

Leo stared at Cabbage; 'She seems like a whole other turtle in a crisis.  That perky "Shirley Temple on a Half-Shell" attitude got replaced by an almost obscene amount of _competence_.   Whoa.'  Leo's brain sent up a signal flare to gather the bits of it that had wandered.  He shook his head, and his thoughts cleared. "We've seen you use pressure points before, though.  I thought you and Pipes woke Sterling the other morning by—"

+"By immobilizing her and tickling her.  She's gonna feel all of this if she wakes up before Cabbage's done."+  Pipes straddled her sister's thighs and placed her fingers on four points just below Sterling's hips.  The body twitched slightly.  +"Got 'em."+ 

Cabbage nodded.  "Ok, Leo.  Place your fingers here and here."  Cabbage pointed to two points on the slopes of Sterling's neck.  "Keep firm pressure, or she'll move her head, if she wakes up." Sterling's body twitched once more as Leo found the pressure points.    

Turning to Mike, Don, and Raph, Cabbage continued, "Whoever has the steadiest hands right now should be holding the flashlight.  Whoever can handle blood the best, go to the kitchen and scrub up to your elbows.  Whoever is left, will be handing me gauze and swabs and dealing with the mess."

Raph held the flashlight, Don headed into the kitchen, and Mike positioned himself behind Cabbage.  Cabbage locked eyes with Mike, "You will only handle the items that have not been sterilized: gauze, etc.  Don and I have scrubbed, and hopefully we can do this without risking infection.  Alright?  Good."

Cabbage adjusted Sterling's head and with a steady hand, sliced a diagonal opening an inch and a half long across the joint of the jaw.  "Probe."  She pushed the top layer of skin aside.  "Gauze.  Mop that up, Don."    Cabbage inhaled through her teeth.  Even Leo could see the white of bone plainly.  "Snapped it all, like popping rubber bands.  How can a sister of mine be so stupid?"  She turned and began threading the needle.

"Gauze."  The surgery neared its end.  'Thank god.  Don't think I could hold this flashlight still for another twenty minutes.  Mikey's running out of gauze.  Hell, even Leo looks like he needs to move.'

Sterling hurt a lot.  She opened her eyes and quickly shut them again.  'Shit! Too bright! Ow!'  "Shit, she's coming around!"  'Raphael?'  Sterling tried to open her eyes again, but that light kept her from seeing anything.

Cabbage's voice spoke to her.  The words were at odds with the pleasant, soothing tone.  "Hey there sister-stupid!  I really hate patching you up, you know that?  You continually find the most moronic things to do to yourself.  Remember that skylight you tried to weather-proof?  How about the shock therapy equipment, huh?  Or that time you got you finger stuck in that u-bend pipe?  I'm afraid this was just as bone-headed.  This is gonna hurt a whole bunch.  But when it's over, you can go get your skanky-ass in the shower, ok?"  

Sterling whimpered; she recognized Cabbage's bedside manner.  'The worse it was gonna be, the more she tries to distract – OWOW!'  "Mff!  MFFfff!  mmmff…"  Sterling cried out, but she did not tear up.  'Small miracles to salve the pride…'  Cabbage was speaking again.

"Ok, that's it for the stitches.  I'm gonna wrap your face good and tight now.  YOU ARE NOT TO THINK ABOUT MOVING THAT JAW OF YOURS.  EVER."  Cabbage took a series of ace bandages and wound them round her sister's beak and head in a figure eight.  "Just like an ankle bind."  

Cabbage nodded to Leo and Pipes, who let go gratefully.  Sterling sagged suddenly as her muscle control returned to her.  Raphael killed the flashlight and Mike, Don, and Pipes started to clean up the mess.    

Cabbage hugged her sister.  "Look you, you're filthy.  Go take a shower.  Leave the bandage on, just wash around it tonight.  When you come back down I'll have water, a hot pack, and a pen and paper waiting. Okay?"


	35. little boy blue

Hanami – Chapter 35

            'Damn it's cold out here.  Should've grabbed a coat.'  Cabbage huddled on the porch swing, trying to sort out her thoughts.  

            "Eh-hem." Leonardo switched the lights on.  "Is that ok?  Or would you prefer to sit in the dark?"  She shrugged and pulled her knees closer to her chest.  She only looked up when he draped a blanket across her shoulders.  He smiled gently, "Care if I join you?"  

            "_Shinshi desu ne_? A gentleman, huh?"  Cabbage lifted the corners of her mouth, mostly for his benefit.  'I feel like I've been awake for days.'

            Leonardo sat down on the other half of the swing.  "You know, I'm still not clear on what '_shinshi'_ means.  Pipes called me that; then Shima called me something else – similar, but not quite – like '_shinpai'_ or_ 'shinrai' _or_ 'shintai.'_   Splinter laughed an awful lot, but wouldn't explain."

            Cabbage blinked.  Then broke into peels of laughter.  She caught her breath and glanced at Leo, only to end up laughing again.  "Oh, quit with the Kermit-the-Frog face!  Ha ha… I'll explain… heh heh."

            "Kermit the Frog face?"

            "Yeah, you know when Kermit gets all mad and Jim Henson just kinda rolls the hand in Kermit's head into a fist… I wasn't laughing at you, really.  I – haha – ok, do you want the short or long explanation?"  Cabbage's dimples were back, but this time Leo was still grumpy about the "Kermit-face" thing, so he chose to ignore them.

            "Both."  He crossed his arms loosely.

            "'_Anatawa shinshi desu.' _means, 'You are a gentleman.'  _Shinpai _means 'anxiety,' so that doesn't make much sense.  _Shinrai_ means 'trust,' which doesn't make much of a joke.  However, if she used '_Anatawa shintai desu,_' she said, 'You are divine.'" 

 Cabbage grinned.  "That was the short explanation.  _Shintai_ has layers of meaning…"  Leonardo was shifting uneasily in his seat, but Cabbage pressed on mercilessly.  "It generally refers to earthly objects that have been possessed by a god: statues, shrines, scared trees, animals, or relics.  The form is blessed, but it houses that which is even more sacred.  Basically, my sister called your body a vessel of the gods."  Leo had never blushed so much in his life.  "Who's a hottie?  Leo's a hottie!  Even Oneechan sees it!"  

            "Quit it!" 

            "Nope."  Cabbage smiled, her teeth flashing as she leaned towards him.  "Leo-nar-do brought me a blan-ket.  He's SOO thought-ful.  He BLUSHES when I tell him he's a cut-ie!  He's SOO mod-est!"  Her voice lowered to a whisper.  "Wonder what would happen if someone told him he was sexy?"

            Cabbage sat back, watching his reaction.  Leonardo's mind was playing a desperate game of '52 card pick up' with his thoughts, trying to put them into any order whatsoever.

            "I'm sorry."  He looked over at her.  She was staring quietly out across the yard.  "I didn't mean to panic you.  I just tend to babble when I'm tired."  She shrugged.  "If it makes you uncomfortable, I don't blame you.  Hell, we met two days ago.  There aren't any hurt feelings on my end.  I just know that, besides being cute, you seem so – it's the wrong word but -- calm.  I want to know you, even if only as a friend; see if maybe I can – I don't know -- learn to find that peace in myself."  Almost as an afterthought she added, "And I can teach you how to smile more often."

            Knowing full well that the conversation had moved on since his last coherent thought, Leo went back to the point where he first lost track of things.  "A hottie?"

Cabbage blinked.  "Yeah."  She looked at him as though he'd asked  'A turtle?'

"Wait a minute.  Me.  Cute?"  Leo checked the ends of his bandana: still blue.  "Cause last time I checked, everybody loved Mike, or Raph, or Donnie…"

Cabbage furrowed her brow.  "Who's 'everybody'?"  

Leo frowned at his feet, "You're joking.  Mike put you up to this and he's gonna pop out and laugh at me…"

Cabbage leaned back.  "You're awfully paranoid for being so serene."  She extended her hand.  "Look, I don't know about 'everybody's' preferences, but I'm an expert in my own.  I want to know YOU better.  If you really want, I can give you a list of reasons why NOT your brothers, but I'd like it better if the two of us just worked out all the specifics of why YOU."

"But you spent all day with Mike – and he –" 

"Leo, you spent all day sitting by an apple tree.  You wanna date it?"  Cabbage shrugged.  "Mikey is fun.  Though talking with him is really strange.  There are so many things that I can identify with, and others that just -- WOOO…."  She smiled.  "I want Mikey for a little brother; he makes me laugh."  Her eyes caught his.  "It's you I want to know.  You've made me curious."  She squeezed his hand  "Take your time, I don't have an expiration date."

Cabbage stood and stretched.  "Sterling should be out of the shower by now, and Raphael and I owe each other some apologies."  Leonardo heard her slip back into the house. 


	36. Exhale. Inhale. Repeat.

Hanami – Chapter 36 

            Pipes flopped into a kitchen chair and hung her head over the back of it.  +"…Aaaah…"+  It wasn't a loud noise, or one with any particular meaning, but when she made chords with it, it made a pleasant distraction.  Raise the pitch.  Lower the pitch.  Thirds, fifths, sevenths, take the minor chord, then drop an octave.  She stopped when she heard someone else in the kitchen.

            "You didn't have to stop.  I mean, I didn't recognize it or anything, but it didn't sound bad."  Mike was shuffling through the dish rack.

            +"Oh, it's ok.  There wasn't anything to recognize, just me making sounds.  Hey, if you find a mug or something 'cup-ish' in there, can you get me some tap water?"+

            "Sure."

            +"Thanks."+  Pipes drained the glass in three swallows and shut her eyes.

            "I'm sorry."

            +"What for?"+

            "Your sister… "

            +"Did you have anything to do with it?"+

            "No!  But I mean, we told you that you guys would be safe with us…"  The sound of a mixing bowl and some measuring cups jingled on the counter.

            Pipes opened her eyes and watched Mike gather ingredients from the pantry and the fridge.  +"And now you think we're not safe with you?"+

            Mike spun around, "How can you ask that?  You saw what he did!"

            Pipes saw that the hand with the vanilla extract was shaking slightly.  +"Mike, honestly at this point I'm more worried about what she could have said to provoke that kind of reaction than the reaction itself.  They both insist it was an accident.  When she gets down here, we'll be able to ask the right questions."+  

Pipes smirked, +"You've never had an argument with her.  She can be one of the most spiteful little toads on the face of the planet.  Hell, I've hit her.  More than a few times, too.  Sometimes the only way to shut her up was to leave a handprint on her face."+  

Mike was staring at her; Pipes shrugged uncomfortably, +"Oh please, it's not like she didn't hit back.  We're sisters.  All four of us shared one room.  The humans told us we would all live or die based on the strength of one another's performance reviews.  'Stress-pressure' doesn't begin to cover it."+  

            Pipes sighed, +"The only real difference it that we don't really know Raphael.  I mean, just because you epoxy-ed nipple-stars to your brother doesn't mean you'd let some other random person get away with it."+  

Mike fought off a grin.  "You heard about that already?"

Pipes nodded, eyes sparkling.  +"Raph obviously doesn't know his own strength; that's scary, not just for us, but for him as well, I'd wager.  And our initial reactions got a lot of the panic out of the way.  Cabbage won't have the energy for hysterics.  I know I won't.  Yeah, Raph's guilty of violence, but that surgery and all that blood and that messy stuff in the living room?   All that was cleaning up HER mess -- HER choice.  Sterling didn't have to re-injure herself, but she did. And that should in no way reflect on Raphael."+

            "Damn, I thought you were mad at him."  Mike started adding dry goods to the bowl. 

            +"Oh I am.  He shouldn't have hurt her."+  Pipes got up and refilled her water glass.  +"But we still don't have the entire story."+

            "I'm just glad it's not a hung jury."  Raphael stepped out from beside the fridge, placing the flashlight on the table.  

            Sterling entered the kitchen to the sound of Pipes singing.  Of course, that wasn't as straightforward as it sounded.  She was doing piano, vocal, and base guitar on a slow jazz version of something… 'Frim Fram Sauce by uh, Diana Krall.'  Sterling congratulated herself; ordinarily she was lousy with song names, let alone their recording artists.  

+"_I don't want French fried potatoes,_

_Red Ripe tomatoes;_

_I'm never satisfied._

_I want the Frim Fram Sauce with the aus an' fey_

_With Sha-fah-fah on the side!_

_Don't want pork chops and bacon_

_That won't awaken_

_My apeti-ii-ii-ite inside_

_I want the Frim Fram Sauce with the aus an'fey_

_With Sha-fah-fah on the side!_

_You know we girls,_

_We really got'to eat_

_And you know we should eat right_

_Five will get you ten, _

_I'm gonna feed myself right tonight!_

_I don't want fish-cake and rye bread_

_You heard what I said,_

_Waiter, please, I want mine fried_

_I want the Frim Fram Sauce with the aus an'fey_

_With Sha-fah-fah on the side! _

_Oommmm with Sha-fah-fah on the side."+_

            Sterling smiled and instantly regretted it, but she knew who was in the kitchen if Pipes was singing.  She rounded the fridge and watched Shima beaming happily as she tapped her foot in time to Pipes' efforts.  Raphael and Splinter sat at the table, enjoying the floorshow as Mike tried to juggle baking sheets full of cookies—both the cooked and the uncooked.  Pipes and Shima were cranking out dough balls faster than he could find places to put the fresh cookies.  Donatello came from behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Here, I found a pad of paper and pen."  Sterling bowed her head in thanks.  

            'Damn, It's gonna be awkward to explain; my actions seem so foolish now.  But if Raphael could just out and say it, then I guess it's my turn.  I feel a lot more relaxed now I've had a hot shower anyways.'  Using that last thought to convince herself, Sterling focused on her 'calm' state and nervously entered the kitchen.


	37. Notebook

Hanami – Chapter 37

_So, I suppose it all started with me being mad at Donatello_.

            "Mad at me?  What did I do?"

_The sewing machine?  You were there when I told Shima I'd fix it.  I've been real worried about her for well over a month now.  It seemed like the something I could actually DO to make her happy.  I came downstairs after a shower and you'd already pulled it apart and spread it across the kitchen table._

            "How was I supposed to know you were mad at me?  You didn't say anything!  You could have just offered to help."

_I know, I did offer to help, but it's really a one-turtle project.  You were trying to get me to pass you tools that were already right beside you.  I thought about saying something, but Shima was there and she was happy… that was the point after all.  So rather than act like a 4-year old -- speaking of which, I DO know that a 'Philip's head' is the one with, "THE CROSS ON THE END."—so rather than say something mean or needlessly harsh, I left the house._

            "But why did it have to be mean or needlessly harsh?"

_Because when I'm mad, everything is mean and needlessly harsh.  _

      +"That's true enough."+

_I knew you hadn't said any of those things to be condescending on purpose; You'd been really nice to me the day before. That's why I just left.  _

            "Makes sense to me."

_Thanks Raph.  Anyways, Raph caught me talking to myself – heh. I got madder— and directed me to the workout trail where I could blow off some steam… you know how it is, you KNOW you're being dumb, but that doesn't make you any less mad?  Well, I thought he understood anyways, but he's like, "You have ONE hour."  Then Bamf! he's gone._

      "Bamf? Just like Nightcrawler?  'Cause if you could smell sulfur... Dude, that'd be tres cool."

            SNORT "The only time Raph leaves a trail smelling like sulfur is after you guys make that horrible chili and man-which pizza with extra onions."

            "Shut up Donnie."

            "So, um bamf?"

_yes.  bamf.  So now I'm livid.   Splinter said we were free to make our own decisions.  Raphael knew where to find me.  It's not like I said, "Hey, Which way to town?"_

            +"Ok, we get it…"+

_So Yeah, the hour rolls by and I'm getting mellow again, been hitting trees with sticks, feeling foolish for kickin' around all the way out there with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CONSTRUCTIVE TO DO.  When 'Skippy-the-wonder-Nazi,' there, shows up and says, "Go home!  NOW!"  _

            "Skippy-the-wonder-Nazi?"

            "Uh-OH Leo, sounds like Raphie's cuttin' in on your schtick!"

            "Shut-up you guys!  So is that what he really said?"

_Well, not that exactly, but close enough.  We fight.  He calls me 'Queen of the Harpies.' I step way too far out of bounds and insult Master Splinter's honor.  He hits me._

            "You did what?"

            "HOW?"

            "Why?"

_Oh, I asked if Master Splinter had already gone back on his word, you know, that whole 'freedom of movement' thing?  _

            "Master Splinter had nothing to do with your argument!  Or with Raphael's insistence that you come back to the house!"

_Well, I was mad.  And Raph did hit me for it.  And I promptly apologized.  I promised not to be so disrespectful of my family.  He promised not to ever hit one of his sisters ever again.  And to respect the promises that our father made to us.  _

            "So then what?"

_The only logical thing.  He was still pouting cause he'd hit me, so I embarrassed him and challenged him to race me home._

      "I wasn't pouting.  I just never should've – aaaahh!" 

+"Embarrassed him?"+

"How? How? How?"

"Put a lid on it Mikey."

"She beat you at arm-wrestling, didn't she?"

"The loser had to wear the pasties, huh?"

"How'd you guys guess?  Gaaah! Shit, s'like livin' with fuckin' tweedle-dildo and tweedle-dumbass.  You wanna shut up?"

"Raphael!"  

"So THAT'S why you two were tearing around the yard!"

_That's right.  If I hadn't gone for the 'victory lap,' I'd've won.  But yeah, he tackled me… flipped me so that he was hydroplaning on my shell… and got back to the house first._

            "So I thought you were right behind me.  What happened?"

_I felt pretty stupid wandering into a kitchen full of people with a puffy face and mud all over my butt, so I figured I'd give it a few minutes before I slipped around the front and snuck into the shower.  _

            "Makes sense to me."

_Thanks, Shima.  Around about here is where I broke my promise.  I went to the barn just to kill a few minutes… It turned into hours.  And I ended up worrying everybody anyways._

            "So what were you doing in there?"

_I got caught up in a series of projects… I fixed the electrical wiring so that the lights work and rewired it so that I can place additional grounded sockets and lighting into the circuit when I get more hardware… I repaired the engine on the air compressor so that I could refill the plain pressurized air tank on the welding rig… I mended the hoses on the welding rig with some rubber – well I'd rather not say, but I found somebody's 'Stash.'   I'm sorry if they're expensive, but they were the only latex  'patches' I could find… I had made 5 out of 6 support joists for the roof of the barn before you three found me, because propping up the walls will only do so much good for so long before you have to replace some of the load-bearing beams in the rafters__…_

      +"They have a welding rig?"+

"Stash?"

"Casey?"

"Casey."

"Dude, in the barn, though?"

"Guess he didn't want you wasting 'em.  The balloon animal thing is only funny so many times."

+"Balloon animal…?"+

"Yeah Mikey does this 'trouser snake'—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Michelangelo!  Raphael!  Ten flips now!"         

"Doesn't that strike you as being a bit obsessive?  To spend six hours in a barn making repairs?"

_yeah.  I got carried away._

      "… snort ok, carried away, huh?…"

            "Hush, Raphael."

_I'm very sorry for worrying everyone._

            "We were merely concerned with your safety, child.  You are safe with us again.  You will certainly be allowed to go where you wish on the farm.  However you will leave a note on the kitchen table before you do.  Is this acceptable?"

_Yes.  Thank you, Master Splinter.  I'm sorry for my thoughtless words and actions.  Oh, and Shima, Raph was not a PERFECT gentleman, but he was a passable one.  He was really worried about my jaw.  Cabbage, I was the one who made him leave it alone._

            "Why am I not surprised?"

            +"Shhh… and move to the left; I wanna watch this."+

            "6 .. thud… thud…7.."

            "Raphael, Sterling, since you seem to enjoy running so much, you will both be ready to begin at dawn.  Raphael you will travel 25 times around the workout trail.  Sterling you will travel at least 10 times.  We will burn off you excess energies before we return to the city tomorrow night."

            "Hai, Sensei."

            nod


	38. Insomnia

Hanami – Chapter 38

            'I really thought there'd be more to it than that.'  Sterling shifted on her mattress.  'Master Splinter could've been really mean about it --  I guess dawn sucks, but "Go Run" is hardly punishment.' YAWN 'Ouchouchouch!' Her eyes watered involuntarily.  'Shit, it's no use.  I'm awake.  It's four am.  Dawn is what 2, 3 hours away?  Guess I'll leave a note on the kitchen table and find something to do…'

            Shima heard a door open and was awake instantly.  She huddled under the blankets.  'Keep still.  The humans will go away.'  Her dreams still twined through her sleepy thoughts, she held her breath, desperately willing the humans to leave her alone.  'Please no.  Please no.  Not again.'  It wasn't prayer – prayer implies belief.  Her silent pleading was just a comforting phrase.  Though even in her mind, those words were only a paper screen between her and her nightmares.  As she slipped back into fitful sleep, her mind's eye warping her memories, Shima dreamt of pain…

            Sterling was headed down to the basement when she noticed Shima.  She was clearly having a nightmare.  Tears ran down her cheeks and her quiet murmuring held a panicked edge.  Sterling moved to her sister's side, hoping that she wouldn't wake anyone.  She took her sister's clenched fist, and gently, ran her fingers down Shima's wrist.  Shima's fear seemed to lessen as her body gradually relaxed.  Sterling continued to trace her fingers down the inside of her sister's wrist, slowly so as to lull her into deeper sleep.

            Sterling felt grateful for the many signs and habits she and her sisters had adopted for the sake of avoiding the humans' anger.  As children, the prohibition against noise after 'lights-out' was strict and the nightmares were frequent.  They'd learned to comfort one another without speech: private, soundless codes for "Your sister is right by your side."  'Just as well, because I really can't say much right now.'

            Despite Sterling's best efforts, Shima awoke, though thankfully her night terror had passed.  Still very relieved to see her sister, Shima hugged her until Sterling thought her shell would crack.  Shima had no intention of going back to sleep, and Sterling couldn't explain her plans for the hours before dawn.  The living room was too dark for her to use her notebook.  So rather than wake anyone else, Shima just followed Sterling without question into the basement.

            Sterling could hear her sister quoting something or other behind her.  "…but a dry sandy Hobbit-hole…"  She looked back at Shima who shugged, "We might find hobbitses down here."  Sterling nodded vaguely. 'At least she's not dwelling on the nightmare.'  She flipped the switch at the bottom of the stairs and illuminated the basement.

            Shima knew she was rambling, but didn't care.  Sterling never minded.  "…Turtles of Middle Earth.  Well, turtles of the concrete slab and its many ugly carpets anyways.  Hey I found the secret stores of marshmallow fluff, whatever that is.  They've certainly got enough of it.  Washer.  Dryer.  Hot water heater.  Ooo, toys!  Ugh! They're dolls.  I hate dolls.  Did you know that the Japanese have legends about dolls that are possessed by evil spirits?  They could swap souls with humans, trapping the human in the doll and possessing the human's body, but only long enough to exact vengeance for the wrong done to them.  Which I always thought was strange.  How do you incur the wrath of a doll?   And would that be all dolls, or just the ones designed to look human?  Cause I've never heard of 'Teddy Bear's Rampage' or 'Pat the Bunny Goes Postal.'  Wow, check out these books…."

            Sterling chuckled to herself; at the word "books" she knew she'd lost her sister for hours, maybe days.  Sterling was much more interested in the ancient TV and the box of electronics sitting on top of it.    She cleared away several old computer monitors and some fishing tackle before she found an outlet.  Plugging the TV in, she twisted the on/off/volume knob.  No picture, but the sound worked, "Odor is just one of the weapons in my overall program of dominance and intimidation."  'Weird.'   She turned it off, and almost succeeded in walking away from it.  'Sweet!  There's another work bench down here!'

            "Yup!  Just like the note said; She's in the basement!" 

            "Morning Mikey!"  Shima was lying on her stomach, feet crossed at the ankles with an ancient throw pillow under her elbows.  She was also surrounded on three sides with stacks of books.

            "Mornin' Dudette! Have you seen Sterling?"

            "Huh?  Oh yeah, she's over there."  Shima pointed to the jumble of electronics across the way.  

            Shima stood up and dusted off her hands.  She saw Mike and waved him over.  She handed him a Sega controller, and hit the power on the four computer monitors stacked in a square.  She powered up the TV and the game consol.  'Street Fighter 2' was displayed across the four monitors, while the tinny music sounded from the speakers on the TV.

            "WHOA!  This stuff's been busted for FOREVER!  I'll play ya!"

            "Mike, I thought you said she was down there, you coming or what?"  

            "Shit!  Yeah, coming Leo!"  Sterling blinked as Mike hugged her fiercely.  "You rock dudette!  When you're done running, ~WE SHALL SEE WHO WILL BE CHAMPION!~"  Sterling rolled her eyes at his funny voice, shook her head.  She then pointed to her chest to indicate that it would be no contest. He snorted, "Yeah whatever!  I'm the reigning KING of 'Street Fighter.'  Shima listened to them leave the basement, with a happy smile on her face.


	39. Dawn on the last Day

Hanami – Chapter 39

            +"I've got winner."+

            "Then I'll be with you in a sec, babe 'cause Donnie's punk-ass is goin' DOWN!"  Mikey's Chun Li ko'd Donnie's Vega and bounced around the screen.  "YATTA!"

            Donnie passed the controller with poor grace as Pipes settled herself between the two brothers.  +"Ok, if you're gonna be Chun-Champion-Street-Walker-Li, I'll take… King Sumo."+  E. Honda grunted through the speakers.

            "You stupid raw-fish-eating son-of-a-motherless pig!  You just jealous because Chun-Li got legs and she know how to use 'em!"  Mike unleashed a fury of kicks across the bathhouse floor.

            +"I'll eat my dead fish and do as I wish!"+   Pipes waited for the right timing and torpedoed Chun Li with the massive sumo body.

            Raphael and Sterling descended into the basement.  "Whoa.  Does her trash-talk always sound like Dr. Suess on crack?"  Sterling just grinned with half of her face.

"Diaper Lover!"

+"Cross Dresser! EEYaaaaah!"+  A barrage of fists sent Chun Li squealing to the floor.  Pipes shook her head, +"What a way to go, bitch-slapped to death by 500 lbs. of Nippon."+

"Mother China is not done yet!  There's two more rounds, fat man; BRING IT ON."

Raphael reclined against the bags of old clothes.  He took mental head-count of his new family.  Sterling sat across the way, playing Pipes: Ken versus Ryu.  Mike'd gone upstairs to make sandwiches and a protein shake for Sterling.  The note on the kitchen table said that Cabbage, Leo, and Splinter had gone to meditate in the woods somewhere.  Donnie was sitting at the workbench fiddling with the sewing machine.  Shima hadn't moved since he and Sterling had returned from their run.  'Well, ok, so she occasionally kicks her feet against her own shell and turns pages, but she's been sprawled on her stomach for hours now.'

His thoughts turned back to Sterling.  'Splinter gave her an easy out.  I'm glad he did.  I don't think she's ever had to run a mile before, let alone 10.  She didn't make a fuss though.  Broken jaw or not, I think she would have kept running if he hadn't stopped her.  I know I lapped her 23 or 24 times, but then she continued to run even after I'd done all my laps.  I think she did something like 2 or 3 miles.'  He paused. 'That's pretty good for someone who can't open their mouth.  If she'd been healthy and in training…damn.  I wonder if those TGRI fucks ever had 'em do any kind of exercise regime.'  "Hey, I call winner."

+"Sure thing!"+  Pipes nailed her opponent with a dragon punch.  +"BOO-yah!  The bullet of justice caps evil's ass!"+  Sterling passed her controller to Raph.  He selected Blanka.

"Have any of you girls done any kind of physical training?  Self-defense?  Aerobics?  Anything?"  Blanka seized his opponent's face and began beating his forehead against it.

Shima looked up, "Um, no.  Not all of us, but they let Cabbage and Sterling took some dance classes."  Shima stopped suddenly and went back to reading.  Raphael looked away from the match long enough to see Sterling hide her face in her hands.

+"Don't pay any mind to her.  She bitched and she moaned but she went every other day for what, 3 years?  She acts all embarrassed, but she's really quite good at it."+

Donnie looked up, "How is it that they had the funding to give dance lessons, when Cabbage told us they were just looking for ways to kill you all and pocket the change?"

Mikey came downstairs with the sandwiches and drinks.  "What's with Sterling?"

+"Oh she doesn't want anybody to know she can dance or something—hmmm, this is delicious!  Thanks Mikey!"+

Shima spoke up, "The classes weren't for us; we were lucky just to be allowed to go and watch.  TGRI had lost plenty of staff and no longer needed the entire building.  So they rented out some of the old surgical demonstration rooms to yoga and dance classes.  They had two-way mirrors in the upstairs observation decks, so we couldn't be seen.  I got to learn some yoga exercises before they changed my schedule.  From then on, I was working the wrong hours to go.  But Cabbage went for a year before her supervisor made her stop.  I think she can still tango, but you'd have to ask her.  And Sterling went for three years before TGRI started subletting to a different biotech firm and classes stopped all together.  All that happened maybe a year before TGRI went under."

Shima noticed Sterling's glare.  "What?  You're still pretty good!  I haven't seen you dance in months, but oh, ok… I'll shut up."

Mike caught Raph's eyes.  "Tango? Don't you need two for that?"  Raph just grinned and grabbed a sandwich.

"That's what I'm told."  Cabbage entered the basement with Leo behind her.  She winked at Donnie.  "So how's the sewing machine coming along?"

"I've cleaned it and reassembled it, but certain parts were damaged.  Small parts.  I have no way to machine replacements here.  And since we're leaving tonight, ordering the parts to be delivered here would be impossible and stupid."  Cabbage nodded.

"So tell us about where we're going."  

"And how we're getting there."

+"God, I'm not ready for another crate."+  Pipes passed her controller to Leo.

"Shit dudette!  No way're there crates!  That's crazy."

Donnie turned from the sewing machine.  "April's got a van.  We'll be driving home."

+"April?  A human?"+  Shima shut her book.  She was suddenly paying attention.

Cabbage turned to Mikey, "This is the one with the 'honorary turtle status,' right?"  Shima's felt her stomach drop through the floor.

"You betcha sugar shell.  April's the coolest human on the planet."

Pipes mouthed the words +"…sugar shell?…"+  

"Yeee-ah.  So we'll be in a van with her.  For how long?"  Cabbage shot Mike a look that said, 'Little bro, don't call me that.'  Shima could feel herself beginning to panic.  She started to count her breathing.

Leo answered, "Three hours or so.  You don't have to worry, she's completely trustworthy."  Shima's eyes were watering.  She would not cry.

Raph grunted, "The exception that proves the rule."

"Yup, definitely the coolest human on the planet!"  Mike snatched the controller from Leo. 

Shima stood up suddenly, venom dripping from her mouth,  "I'm sorry Mike, but 'coolest human' is like saying 'kindest butcher.'" She was up the stairs and out the front door before anyone could stop her.


	40. Mock-Turtle

Hanami – Chapter 40

            "Shit."  They all knew where she was headed, but Donatello arrived first.  Shima'd come directly to her children's grave and begun to dig.  Her pupils dilated and her breathing labored, she snapped and growled at any who approached her.  Her sisters ventured as close as they dared, trying to reason with her.

            +"Shima, it's us, please stop!"+

"Oneechan, please!  Leave them alone!"

Sterling tried to move closer, only to have her sister take a wild swing at her face.

Leo turned to his brothers, "Where's Master Splinter?"

"Uh…"

"Then let's go find him.  Donnie, you stay here, make sure she doesn't hurt anyone."  Leonardo headed back towards his sensei's favorite meditation spot.  Mike went inside to check upstairs.  Raphael headed out along the workout trail.

By the time they returned with Master Splinter, her frantic digging and her sister's pleas had subsided.  Shima had dug a shallow hole over the grave and tucked herself into it facing outward.  She'd pulled her entire body into her shell and packed the dirt as tightly as possible around herself.  

"I tried to move her, but she wouldn't budge."  Donatello held up his hands.  His forearms were a mass of cuts and bites.  "It's not just that she won't let you get a good grip, she must be digging in with her back feet, too."  

Pipes spoke up, +"She doesn't even recognize us."+

Master Splinter sighed deeply.  "This will take some time.  Please go back to the house.  I will help her."

"But—Sensei, she—"

            "Do not fear Leonardo.  If you wish to help bring out three blankets."

            Sitting on one and wrapped in another, Splinter draped the third blanket over his daughter.  He settled in, willing his mind to still itself.  Traveling inward, he gently untied his consciousness from his body.  Mentally playing out the slack that would allow him to return to himself, Splinter launched himself outward, seeking his child.  

            _A great stone statue lay buried at the foot of the apple tree.  Rough granite and impossibly bulky, the turtle's features were sharp, feral, and angry.  The tree was bare and the night was dark.  Cold froze the ground, causing it to clutch the statue-Shima's shell in a stony vice.  Still and silent, the granite turtle remained low, half in the earth and half out.  Splinter saw that his daughter stood in the doorway – denying entry – guarding that which rested below her: a stone dragon on her horde._

_            Even as Splinter watched, a growing crowd of humans surrounded the statue.  They pointed at her, laughing.  That same laughter continued as they marked her body with pick-axes.  They pissed on her, insulted her, gouged bits of stone from her shell.  They splashed her with blood.  They cracked her foundation.  She did nothing, but bore it all without any outward emotion._

_            It was only when they began digging that panic and rage registered in her eyes.  But she was stone, and stone could not move, so there was no one to stop them as they tunneled beneath her._

_            Splinter heard the birthing cries of her children, felt the earth grind as she tried to pull free.  Too late, the humans had the children, small shells still too soft to protect themselves.  The human crowd screamed and murmured as it pressed around the tiny forms, and the tiny lights of their souls flickered and faded like fireflies in September._

_            The humans were gone.  The statue remained, crying silent tears, guarding an empty hole._

_            Splinter approached the statue and, resting a spectral hand upon it, once again sought Shima's mind.  _

_            A crowded room with four lofted beds and four desks lay bathed in fluorescent light.  There were no windows and only one closet.  Each desk had a bookshelf beside it and its owner's bed above it.  The floor was tile and there was a sink and toilet in one corner.  There were angled mirrors along the edge of the ceiling and mirrors mounted on the walls over the desks.  Splinter felt as though a thousand eyes were staring at him. _

_            Four little girl turtles were curled up together on the bed furthest from the door.  Two were asleep, exhaustion evident on their faces.  _

_One had burns and scrapes on her fingers and an air of permanent ground-in dirt.  Her fingernails were blackened, her beak was sooty, her feet were gray with calluses, and her knees were the ashy brown of a miner's child.  _

_The other that lay sleeping on her sister's shoulder possessed a pair of puffy eyes and a runny nose.  She'd clearly cried herself to sleep.  Her hands were wrapped up to her wrists in medical tape and there were hot packs on the mattress where they must have slipped out of her swollen hands.  Splinter's psyche cringed, as a weapons master, he recognized the signs of physically abusive training.  Her knuckles were inflamed and engorged, as were her wrists.  If her training, whatever it was, continued without regard to her health, she would suffer permanent damage.  He did not know what would cause her to have bloody fingertips, but he could guess that the long-term goal was the formation of calluses._

_Shima sat upright, cradling her little sister in her arms.  Splinter hovered nearby, watching the memory unfold.  _

_"It's ok OneSee, tell Oneechan all about it."  OneSee had finally calmed down enough to speak.  Splinter felt Shima's mind projecting calm at her little sister, at little Cabbage.  'Was she an empath?'  Splinter held the ability himself, but none of his sons had demonstrated that tendency, except for Michelangelo, but he too often lacked the discipline to focus it.  Turning his attention back to his daughter, Splinter found himself listening to Cabbage's troubles._

_"…study medicine, I said ok.  I wanna help.  I don't wanna watch people be sick any more.  They made us do dissections.  Pull apart the animals that were dead to see how they worked, so that we could fix the ones that weren't dead, right?"  Shima nodded, letting Cabbage tell her story in her own time.  Cabbage burst out all at once, "They said I was ready for the next big step!  They took me to the storage vaults.  They said it was important.  We have to know how mutants work in case they get sick.  OH FOURSEE, they made me dissect mutant turtle cadavers today!"  Cabbage was almost hysterical, "I don't wanna!  I don't wanna be a DOCTOR!  FourSee, I know how they DIED.  I got to see everything the humans did to them.  They made me record it on an autopsy tape.  I can't sleep.  I keep seeing the bodies in my mind.  FourSee make it stop!"  Cabbage choked, unable to speak._

_FourSee looked past her sobbing sister, watching the other two breathing peacefully.  Her expression was sad, but it hardened as she lifted Cabbage's face towards her own.  She whispered words that Splinter knew she would regret for the rest of her life.  "They are already dead.  We are still alive.  Tomorrow and the day after and the day after you will go where the humans tell you and take apart anything the humans ask of you.  Do you understand?  Because if you are weak, then you have killed us all."_

_Cabbage nodded.  Oneechan was right._

_Splinter's psyche drifted from the room, pulling itself through layer upon layer of Shima's memories.  He would remember some until the day he died, others he forgot in an instant.  Time drifted wide here, and through a cracked window, he perceived his goal._

_"Hello Nezumi-Sama."_

_Splinter smiled, "Sir Rat?  No child, call me Splinter, please."_

_"Tea, Splinter?"_

_"Yes.  Thank you."_

_"You must have traveled a great distance to find me.  I did not know where I was headed when I fled, and not even I am sure where I am now."_

_Splinter sipped his tea.  "You are where you always are, inside yourself.  The yarn may become tangled, but if you follow it from one end to the other, there is still the same distance to go."_

_"Very insightful, but regardless, I'm still here and so are you."  She pulled at her tea.  "The problem is this, I think, some one has broken into my house and I'm too scared to go back inside.  I've been living out here in the backyard, so to speak, and it's been so long since the break in, that I now have no idea what to expect."_

_Splinter sat, holding the warm tea, and contemplated her words.  "You've been uncomfortable in your own mind since the rape.  Horrified over the loss of your children.  Guilty and angry at the indignities the humans have made you swallow.  The choices you have made and hated yourself for blocked you into a path whose end results hardly justify the pain you have exposed your family to.  Since you felt things going so badly you've pulled back further and further.  Now you are at a loss as to how to go forward."_

_"I should have spoken to you from the beginning."  Shima gave him a sad smile.  "Are you familiar with Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass?"  She swirled the dregs around in the bottom of her teacup.  "I despised it.  It gave me nightmares, not because of the Jabberwocky or the Queen of Hearts, or even the duchess with her baby that turned out to be a pig.  Rather, I had night terrors about the Mock-turtle."_

_Splinter gestured for her to explain.  "Alice meets this depressed creature on her journey through Wonderland that is neither turtle nor anything else.  It's half turtle, with the head of a calf and it cries constantly.  It also sings though, sings beautifully.  If you paid no attention to it's words the whole scene is quite jolly:  Alice, the gryphon, and the mock-turtle all dancing round in a circle, talking of tossing lobsters out to sea.  But the words haunted me, 'Will you, won't you, will you, won't you join the dance…Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance…"_

_"In my dreams the words changed, 'Cannot, Could not, Will Not, Would not, Shall not, Should not join the dance…'  That was the story with my sisters and I.  I tried to protect us all from the humans, and now I wonder if I'd only done more damage by prolonging the inevitable."_

_"Inevitable, my child?"_

_"They'll kill us in the end.  They're coming for us even as we speak."_

_Splinter's cup of tea needed refilling.  "Thank you."  Shima nodded.  "Are you sure that these new humans mean you harm?  After all, you and your sisters have survived many things to surrender to suicidal thoughts now."_

_Shima's silence answered him._

_"Let me tell you of our friend April O'Neil…"_


	41. HANAMI

Hanami – Chapter 41

            "Aw, come on Leo, Master Splinter'll fix things."  Mike's faith in his sensei was absolute.  "Besides," he continued in a quieter voice, "your pacing s'only making the girls nervous."

            Leo looked over and realized that Mike had a point.  "Ok, we'll build a bonfire."

            "Yes!  YO!  DON-NIE! Get the marshmallows, dude!"

            Raphael looked over at Leo from his perch on top of the fridge, "Isn't it a bit light outside for a campfire?"

            "Dude, it is never too early in the day for baked apples with brown sugar and syrup."

            +"Amen to that."+ 

            Cabbage wiped her eyes, "Have you ever had baked apples before?"

            +"Nope, I'm a baked-apple virgin!  But it sounds good, doesn't it?"+

            Mikey laughed maniacally, in a terrible Transylvanian accent he passed her a bag of mackintoshes, "Yay-s, dee Ah-pools ov dee night, Vat Vondare-fool moosick dey mayke."

            "Ah-pools of the mid-afternoon you mean."

            Mike made as if to bite Donnie in the neck, then pulled back.  "Yay-s, dem too."

            Leo built a roaring fire out in the campfire circle set back in the woods.  Mike was showing Pipes how to cut an apple into a spiral so it would cook quicker and hold more syrup.  Donnie was talking to Sterling about the rewiring job she'd done in the barn; she kept up her end of the conversation as best she could with her notebook and paper.  Cabbage just sat quietly, lost in thought.  All in all, the girls were tensed, nervous about their sister and the upcoming contact with an unknown human.  Raphael slipped back into the house.

            When he came back Leo glared at him.  "I hardly think that's a good idea."

            "Shove it Leo."  Raphael poured some Coke into the plastic cups.  "I didn't break this out for us to all get plastered, just to take the edge off.  Besides, nobody gets rum if they don't want it."  He poured some in for himself, and downed some of it.  "Well, anybody else?  Pipes?  Cabbage?  Sterling?  Mike?  Donnie?"  He paused, "Leo?  A little won't hurt.  I'm not asking if you want heroine."

            +"Sure."+

            "Yeah."

            nod

             "Sure thing, bro!"

            "Why not?"

            Leo looked around.  Raph rolled his eyes, "Leo, look there is no possible way for us to get drunk on what is left in this bottle.  Will you relax?"

            "Fine."

            Raph nodded, "You just wanted to have some one else talk you into it so you didn't have to feel guilty about it."  He passed the Rum'n Cokes around.  "We're out of rum, so enjoy it."

            Mike stood up, "A toast!  To family!"

            +"TO FAMILY!"+ They all chorused. nod!

            The baked apples in their foil pockets glinted in the embers of the fire.  They smelled lovely.  Donatello'd already burnt himself trying to check and see if his was done.  

            Mike leaned back, "Hey Cabbage, remember that game we were playing the other day?  I mean, it's my turn to ask a question."

            Cabbage smiled, "Ok Mikey, what do you want to know?"

            He grinned like a maniac, "So two parts: do you remember how to tango?  And will you dance for us?"

            Cabbage rolled her eyes, "Vaguely and not right now.  Besides you guys don't wanna see me dance.  You wanna see Sterling dance."  Sterling tried to murder her sister with a stare.

            "We do?"  Raphael was curious.  'I'll bet we do with legs like that…'

            +"Yup!  It's the one feminine thing she does!"+  Sterling flipped Pipes off.  +"See?"+  She turned to her sister, +"Seriously, how about it?  I'll do accompaniment.  Please?"+

            Sterling blushed and wrote something down.

            +"OK!  So provided that you guys don't say anything until she's done, she'll do it."+

            Sterling got up and gestured for them to make space between the fire and the logs where they were seated.  She counted out some steps, as if to make sure her routine would fit and ran through some brief stretches.  She dropped her coat as twilight settled gently around her shoulders.

            Raphael had stopped breathing.  Sterling and her sisters had been running around without clothes all weekend.  It hadn't really mattered; their shells kept them decent.  But standing in the falling dark, with the fire glow playing across her curves and features, it struck him how _naked_ she was.  Her eyes were shut, her breathing controlled, and she stood with her feet together and her head bowed towards her chest.

            Pipes settled herself comfortably, and grinned.  'She's got it bad.  First she injures herself worse just to come to his defense, and now she's willing to dance in front of him.  And not just _a_ dance, but an _Arabesque_' +"Ok, I'll give you a four count.  One. Two. Three. Four."+  Pipes' throat echoed the strains of one slow violin.  The notes followed a simple melody without the complications of drums or pipe instruments.

            Sterling was still, poised.  On the count of four, she brought her hands up slowly, rotating her wrists in the same direction, turning her arms into fluid snakes that rippled with the rise and fall of the violin.  She followed the melody up in an arc, leading with her sinuous arms, trailing her head and upper body in her arms' wake.  Her hips and feet remained still as stone.  She only moved from her rib cage up.  Just as she was stretched to her tallest, the music changed.  Pipes added a pulsing drum and a lively flute, while increasing the tempo only slightly.   Sterling's hips rose and fell weaving a figure eight.  She pivoted lightly and dropping her pulsing wrists to frame her front-most hip, focusing the rhythm on the rounded muscle of her left leg.  She pushed it toward her audience, riding the slow beat of the drum and hypnotizing them with her flowing hands.  She only repeated the motion briefly before her movements brought the eyes upwards again.  Arms over her head, she circled her chest to Pipes' throbbing drums, all the while her hips returned to their slow figure eight.  

            Raphael remembered to breathe.  She was moving now, shuffling with the same tempo as her hips undulation.  Exposing just a bit of inner thigh to fire light as she moved across the dirt.  'So sexy…' Suddenly, the tempo sprang forward and her hips were a blur of shimmy.  He didn't know how, but she retained the slow motions of the first part of the dance in the dip and roll of her shoulders, yet her hips were a continual flicker of movement.  The music calmed and she circled round to clap on a pair of beats. She turned round in a circle, pushing her shoulder in the pulse of the music.  She stopped, closer now, extending her left leg in front of her.  She switched her weight to her back leg and rolled the rhythm out the length of her body: shoulder to breast to rib cage to stomach to hip to thigh over and over. 'God, I want to be next to that…' She stepped forward, bringing her legs back together and shimmying, traveled back the way she had come, turning in a circle and leading with her other shoulder.  Her arms went over her head and she leaned straight back her entire body pulsing with the drumbeats.  Breasts and hips circling in seemingly opposite directions, she dropped back in on herself, her body falling toward her own extended right leg.  The flute and violin mimicked her descent and the drum beat only once more.  

            Silence.

            "Yaaay!"  Pipes and Cabbage were both clapping enthusiastically.  None of the guys had moved.  Pipes noted with considerable satisfaction that Raphael had yet to close his mouth.  'Point for Sterling.'

            Raphael had two thoughts.  'Damn…' and 'Holy Shit…'  They alternated.  He jumped when Cabbage and Pipes started to applaud.  This kicked in far more complex thoughts.  'Wanna see her do that again…'  'While we're alone…' and  'While she's underneath me…'

            "Whoa, that was amazing, dudette…"  Michelangelo shook off the last of the haze induced by bobbing female flesh.

            "You truly are a talented dancer."  Raphael looked to Leonardo.  'I can't believe he said that.  Only Leo could watch all that and come up with a compliment so, so, fuckin' Mr. Rogers!'  

            At this point, higher brain functions were beginning to work again.  Raphael nonchalantly tried to readjust his seat on the log to ease the ache between his legs.  

            Donatello must have noticed, because he flashed Raph a quick grin before he asked Sterling, "So that's what three years of dance training'll get you?"  She nodded vaguely, but her attention was on a pair of figures coming over to the fire.

            "I suggest you begin cleaning up, as April will be here any moment."  Splinter held Shima's hand; she looked different somehow.  Leonardo's eyes went wide.  'The turtle under the apple trees!  The one from my vision!  She looks so much calmer.  Shima actually looks happy.'  Shima's sisters had surrounded her, hugging her as though they were afraid she would leave them again.  Leonardo felt a warm breeze and smelled just a hint of the scent of apple blossoms.  Splinter smiled gently, "Hanami."

The End.

kinda ;)

Hanami means "Flower Viewing." It usually refers to viewing the cherry blossoms (sakura) that bloom in the spring. It's customary to pack a picnic, or throw a party outside under the flowers. If you've watched any anime, you know that sakura petals tend to flood the screen whenever a character has a romantic moment.  But it's also a standard "happy moment" phenomenon.  

Ok, I, Kyabetsu, do hereby promise that there will be sequels, and that they will be WAAAY shorter and easier to digest.  Thank you for all of your feedback.  I couldn't have written without some form of encouragement.  (My cat is useless in that department.  If string is not involved, he's out like a light.)   I hope you like my girls, because if you don't then the sequels won't be 'sequels' so much as 'something entirely different.'   So yeah, if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands….  


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